Convoluted Family Ties
by outerelf
Summary: Triplets raise Prowl. And then come the misconceptions- FINALLY COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

community./tfbunnyfarm/47902.html#cutid1

#2 – this is where I got this story from. I saw comment of people wanting to see it, but I didn't see anyone claiming it, so I took it. I tweaked it a little, but… enjoy.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

Sideswipe strolled through the city, humming contentedly to himself. Sunstreaker had managed to sell a few of his paintings, which meant that they would have some extra money for awhile, and not just depend on what their third brother, Red Alert, could bring home.

Whenever Red Alert was home. He was usually off on his commissions to guard different buildings and to help plan and set up security systems. Red Alert was the cities best kept secret. Only the city they were currently in knew about Red Alert, and didn't tell anyone else, because with rumors of war coming, they wanted to feel secure. And Red Alerts excessive paranoid security mechs did make one feel secure- Clink!

Sideswipe paused at the sound of the noise, head turning. He hesitated, wondering what he had heard. At last he shrugged, figuring he had just imagined it, when again came the soft clinking noise.

Scowling now, Sideswipe moved into the alley to figure out what was making the clinking noise. The alley way looked completely deserted. Disgusted with himself, Sideswipe turned to move out, when a soft click caught his auditory receptors once again.

Sideswipe resisted the urge to shout, instead warily scanning the area for anything. When he came up with nothing, Sideswipe decided to go find a medic to get his auditory receptors checked. Then, a tiny form came crawling out of the darkness, making the small clicking. For a split moment Sideswipe wondered how it had dodged his scanners, then realized it was so low on energon, it was a miracle it was still online.

Quickly he scooped up the tiny sparkling and hurried off, heading home.

Red Alert had a bit of medial training, he was usually too paranoid to let doctors work on him, or the twins, and at the rate the twins came home with injuries, meant a lot of hiding from their creators. So thus, Red Alert was forced to learn medical abilities. _My brother is nearly a jack-of-all-trades_ Sideswipe thought sourly. _With him so paranoid he taught himself how to do most things, and I guess that's good now that I look back on it, but it was annoying as the pit at the time he was learning how to do something._

Sideswipe looked down at the small sparkling he had rescued curiously. It clicked softly, one hand reaching up to touch Sideswipe on the side of the face, and Sideswipe chuckled, one optic running over the white paint and delicate door-wings. "Don't worry little guy, we'll have you fixed up nice and new."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert was home for once, and about to get some recharge when Sideswipe burst in, carrying the small sparkling. "Red Alert!"

"Sides?"

Sideswipe shoved the sparkling at Red Alert, who instantly frowned, "Sideswipe, where did you find this from?"

"He was abandoned in an alley way, and before you can say anything, no one was there, so it couldn't have been a trap."

Red Alert snarled, retreating into the kitchen area, "You know, you still should've made sure! With you two being gladiators half the time, you've made a lot of enemies."

Sunstreakers head poked out from the art studio in which he was working in. "Someone say my name?"

A slight smear of paint was on his cheek, and Sideswipe thanked Primus that Sunstreaker was on a roll. If Sunstreaker didn't fuss over his appearance while he was painting, that meant the painting would be exceptionally good. Red Alert scowled, flapping a hand at Sunstreaker. "No, go finish your painting."

Sunstreaker hesitated for a moment, and then withdrew back into his room. Red Alert set down the sparkling, eyeing it carefully.

"Not too badly hurt. Something's been tearing off what little his body can do however, so that's why his energon levels were so low." Red Alert chewed on the bottom of his lip, considering what to do next.

"C'mon Red! You're the one with medical training!"

"That may be, but I only treat small things that you two morons should know how to fix by yourselves now!" Red Alert said, exasperated. "I can fix small things, but…"

Red Alert subspaced a medical kit, bending over the sparkling. It was mandatory for security/police officers to carry such kits, for they had the greatest chance of being shot at while on the job.

0o0o0o0o0o

Red Alert leaned back as Sideswipe peered over his shoulder. The sparkling had a sloppily done patch job, but the small thing would live until they could get it to a proper medic. Red Alert had demanded an explanation while he had been patching up the Sparkling, and Sideswipe easily provided it.

Red Alert searched the sparkling for any identification at all, and at last gave up, rubbing his optics tiredly. "I can't find anything, but that might just be because I'm tired. First we gotta get some energon in it, a specially mixed grade of energon-"

Red Alert shuffled towards the energon cubes stacked in the back of the room, muttering about filtering it. Sideswipes head tilted as he realized something. "Wait, Red, how can you know so much about sparklings?"

"I don't. I just heard snippets from when I was over at the hospital when I was a youngling. I used to sit in a corner in the waiting lounge so the doctors couldn't find me, and I'd listen to creators trade tips on their creations."

Red Alert pulled down a cube, staring at it. "Slag it! We need an actual medic."

Sideswipe considered, and then said slowly, "Theirs always our regular doctor-"

"NO!" Red Alert cut Sideswipe off brutally. "He's not the best-"

Sunstreaker entered the room, and the two looked up warily. Red Alert still hadn't quiet reconciled himself with the idea of a sparkling in the house, but he was reasonably sure that it would be gone soon. Just as soon as he could find a number on it, and send it off to its creators. "What is that thing?" Sunstreaker snarled, looking at it.

Sideswipe however answered, "A sparkling. I found it abandoned."

"Get rid of it." Sunstreaker snapped, glaring.

"No! He was abandoned. We're keeping him!"

Two pairs of stunned, mixed with rage optics looked at Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker snarled, "What?"

"We're keeping him. Isn't that right Red?'

Red Alerts optics grew wide and panicked as two pairs of optics fixated on him, and the bond tugged him between the two seesawing emotions. "Don't look at me! I-"

Sunstreakers optics narrowed, and Sideswipe snapped, "You must have an opinion Red!"

"Sideswipe, do you have any idea of what its like to take care of a sparkling?"

"No, but I'm sure we can ask our creators—"

Silence fell as if cut with a knife. Red Alerts optics grew distant, as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker suddenly looked away.

The sparkling, who had been silent until this time, began to wail, desperate for energon. Sunstreakers optics narrowed even further as he snarled, "Shut it up!"

Sideswipe took the sparkling, and began rubbing its back, optics pleading with Red Alert. Red Alert sighed, setting down the cube of energon. "I'll go buy some more energon for the kid. I just got paid."

SsSsSsSsSsSsSs

No, I haven't read the story where Sideswipe and Sunstreaker raise Prowl. I've been thinking about it, but I haven't so far. As much as I write fanfiction, I hardly ever read it. A bad trait about me. XP


	2. Chapter 2

Red Alert ignored the clerics look as he walked out of the shop, subspacing the bag of low-grade energon, twitching slightly and skittishly circling around any dark areas in the road. He opened the apartment door to a loud, offbeat wailing, and Red Alert winced as he took out an energon cube from where he had stored it in subspace.

"Sideswipe? Got some."

Sideswipe looked up gratefully, and Red Alert said softly, 'Hold him still."

Sunstreaker watched as Red Alert and Sideswipe somehow managed to feed the sparkling, after a lot of spilling and energon got everywhere.

Sunstreaker snickered as he looked at the two. "You two looked as if someone rained energon on you. But Sideswipe, you can't honestly be thinking about keeping the sparkling-"

"I am." Sideswipe insisted, looking Sunstreaker in the optics.

Red Alert sighed, swaying on his feet, his exhaustion making itself clear. "How about we talk this over in the morning when we're freshly recharged and Red Alert is choosing which job to do next?"

Sunstreaker scowled, and then asked, "Where does it recharge?"

"He Sunny. And… he can recharge in our room."

"Oh no!" Sunstreaker said firmly. "It is not going into our room."

Red Alert disappeared into his room, and fell into an exhausted recharge as the twins battled over the tiny sparkling, who was already falling into a recharge.

0o0o0o0o0o0

In the end, Sideswipe had won. Sideswipe and the sparkling had fallen asleep on the same berth, Sunstreaker as far away as was possible. Red Alert was up first, his nervous paranoia making him get up to check the house for anyone who might of broken in during the night.

Sideswipe was up next, still cradling the sparkling. Red Alert mutely held his arms out, and Sideswipe gratefully dumped the dead weight into Red Alerts arms as he went to get his own energon.

Red Alert sat down at the table, staring down at the sparkling. In the light, and since he was no longer so tired, he had time to actually look at the mech. It had a soft white paintjob, crowned by an odd, almost horn like protrusions on either side, just on the forehead, not on the sides of the head. "You're serious."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Sideswipe nodded, grinning. "Yeah, I am. After saving it, it would be cruel of me to abandon it right after I got it fixed."

Red Alert held the sparkling staring down at it. Now that his CPU was working properly, he could think of a million reasons why Sideswipe shouldn't keep the sparkling. But, it all died in his vocalizer as the sparkling clicked softly, one tiny hand stretching out as it awoke from its recharge. _Awww, it's so cute. Wait, maybe it's a new weapon designed to take over the world by using giant blue optics to bring down defenses-_

Sideswipe smacked Red Alert on the shoulder lightly. "Red Alert, you're sparking."

Red Alert shook himself, attempting to pull his CPU from the conspiracy theory that it was on a roll with. "Sunstreaker?"

"He'll come around." Sideswipe said, waving a hand. "Don't worry about it Red Alert!"

Red Alert sighed, setting the sparkling down. It clicked, begging to be held, which Red Alert ignored as he dragged out another cube of low-grade energon. The sparkling looked at the cube, and Red Alert poured a little at a time into its mouth, sighing heavily. "Sideswipe, do you even know how to take care of a sparkling?"

"I was planning on asking Wheeldune. He's a good doctor, and he takes care of mostly sparklings and Younglings so he should be able to give me a slight idea of what to do-"

"What is that thing still doing here?" Sunstreaker demanded, glaring. He had fallen into recharge muttering 'It won't be there in the morning' as a way to try to escape reality. It wasn't working.

"Sunny, I told you, we're taking care of it."

Red Alert blocked out the noise of the two battling twins, and he pulled out several datapads from subspace, looking them over. He had several job commissions, though for several it wasn't worth his time, for they wouldn't give him a very good price in return… The sparkling placed a hand on top of one datapad, and Red Alert looked at the youngling as it stared at the datapad, face beginning to scrunch up as it attempted to read the cybertronian.

Red Alert stifled a smile, "Isn't this a little advanced for you?"

The sparkling gave an irate click, its door wings fanning gently. Red Alert shook his head, and then turned back to the datapads, at last setting them down. He had several big offers, several small ones. However, the big offers were slightly shady, and not something he'd want to deal with. However, at how deep in debt they were in…

Red Alert picked up one of the datapads, staring at it. It was to a rather shady dealer out in the tougher parts of town, but… The sparkling chirruped, and attempted to lift a datapad. Red Alert glanced at it, and realized that he hadn't looked at it yet.

Silently he took the datapad, reading it through. And his breath drained. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker broke off mid-argument, feeling Red Alerts shock. "Red Alert?"

"You know that debt we're in?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, read."

Red Alert tossed the datapad at them, and Sunstreaker caught it deftly, Sideswipe leaning in to read over his shoulder. Muted shock filtered through the triplets bond, and Red Alert leaned back. "So, the company we're in debt too is offering to call it even if you set up a security system for them?"

Red Alert nodded, optics dark. "Yes, they are. But that'll mean we might still be a little short on money unless Sideswipe manages to come up with something more or you can sell some of your paintings…"

Sunstreaker said calmly, "I finished one of my paintings last night."

Red Alert nodded, standing. "I'll go out to the company. Don't expect me back for a week or two. Sideswipe, if you are actually going to keep the kid, think up of a name for him, would you?"

Sideswipe grinned as Red Alert left. _One down. Just one more to go-_

Sunstreaker grabbed his brother, glaring at him. "We. Are. Not. Keeping. That. Sparkling."

_And one half is gone. He actually recognized him as a being._ "Don't worry Sunny, we'll be sure to keep it away from the art studio."

Sunstreakers fist clenched as he aimed a punch at his twins head.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert winced as he felt pain lash across the bonds as the twins fought. .: _Both of you, stop it now! You might traumatize the sparkling-_:.

The pain faded, and Red Alert wasn't sure whether they had stopped, or were simply masking the bond. He paused, considering on going back, but at last shrugged. He wouldn't be home probably for the next two weeks, for planning, buying, preparing and setting up the security system.

_Well, it'll probably take me longer then two weeks, but I will take a break by then._

0o0o0o0o0o0

(_Two weeks later_) Red Alert entered the room to find Sideswipe flat on his back, the sparkling curled up on his stomach, not recharging, but not moving either. It perked up as it saw him, optics glowing blue in the darkness.

"Well, well, well. I see you're still here." Red Alert said to the sparkling.

Sunstreaker grunted from the studio, "Yeah, no matter how much I insisted, he wouldn't get rid of the stupid sparkling."

Red Alert looked at the sparkling, then looked around the apartment. The main room had various toys scattered around it, and several reading-level pads were scattered across the room. "What's his name?"

"Sideswipe came up with several, but he insisted on waiting until you got home before settling on one."

Red Alerts optics ridge rose as Sunstreaker stormed off, grumbling to himself.

Sideswipe groaned, attempting to sit up. The sparkling didn't move. "Hey, Red Alert. Back home?"

"Yes, I got the planning done, all that remains is setting it up. Did you name the sparkling?"

Sideswipe regarded the sparkling, and then said softly, "Prowl. Prowl sounds like a good name, right?"

"I haven't been here to watch him, so I don't know Sideswipe. But, Sunstreaker is…" Red Alert hesitated, then shrugged.

Sideswipe grinned, "Don't worry, I think that Sunny likes the sparkling just fine."

Prowl clicked quietly, and Red Alert picked the sparkling up, staring at it. "So, what do the medics say?"

"He's not talking yet, even though he should be in that stage of development. The only reason he isn't walking is because of the door wings, which are throwing him off balance. All in all, a very healthy sparkling."

"And how are we paying for it?"

"Oh, I went to the gladiators ring a couple times-"

Red Alert looked up, optics narrowing, and Sideswipe shrugged. "It may be illegal, but it's the only way to make any decent money fast, and between me and Sunstreaker, we haven't been defeated once."

"No wonder I've been feeling pain across the bond." Red Alert murmured. "I thought it was you two just getting into another fight."

"Nope."

There was silence for a few moments, and then Red Alert at last said, "Very well. I'll take it you have an idea of what you're doing?"

"No actually, I don't. How about I tell you what happened…"

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

Just to warn you lot now, I won't be getting into much detail about the twins raising Prowl. This is mostly about Jazz and Inferno trying to break the two up because they get the exact wrong idea. If any of you have any ideas on how the two would try to break them up, tell me.

I have no idea how to go about such thing (I've never been kissed, nor have I ever had a boyfriend) So, I have no idea on how to go on such a thing.


	3. Chapter 3

"It started just after you left. Me 'n' Sunny got into a fight, but we stopped after you told us too, and I went on over to the medics. They checked him out, and were talking about giving him a serial number, when I claimed that he already had one. After all, we don't want anyone to know that he's ours. Too many of mine and Sunny's opponents are still sore about loosing over at the Gladiator Pits."

The sparkling chirruped, hand reaching out to Red Alerts face. Red Alert nearly dropped the youngling. Sideswipe hastily rescued him, scolding, "Prowl!"

Prowl clicked softly, scowling slightly, door wings drooping. Red Alert eyed the small mech for a moment, before sighing. "I'll go get some energon. Keep talking Sideswipe."

Sideswipe continued as Red Alert left the room, knowing full well that Red Alert could hear him, "Yeah, I at first got a couple of our neighbors to watch him, and then since I have to wait before selling some of the stuff I've dug up, I started watching him. He learns fast! Before he couldn't read, but now I think he is reading."

Prowl clicked, and pointed downwards. Sideswipe obligingly put the sparkling on the floor, and Prowl began to crawl around, staring at his different toys. "Well, a lot of neighbors donated these toys after finding out about Prowl here, and another even helped teach me how to properly feed him using a bottle like cube sort of thing-"

Sideswipe decided to leave all descriptions to Sunstreaker, because that made absolutely no sense. "Anyways, he's a lively one. Hardly makes a sound other then his soft clicking of course, except when he's hungry. Then he'll crawl right up to me or Sunny and demand more."

Sunstreaker called out, his voice half there, half not, "Did you feed him? This is about the time he gets hungry."

Sideswipe suppressed a snicker, and Sunstreaker didn't notice, too lost in his world of painting. "Well, even Sunstreaker likes him." Red Alert said, surprised.

Sideswipe nodded, whispering, "Don't let him know however. He's still in denial."

"How'd he worm his way in?"

"It started when he started curling up besides Sunstreakers foot and recharging, even when Sunstreaker was in the studio. Never touched the paints, despite Sunstreaker grumblings, just curled up right beside the foot, and wham, he's out."

Sunstreaker in the room, stifled a smile remembering feeling the warm, small weight against his foot. The sparkling was very nice, it never made a sound, interrupting him, nor did it make a fuss, it simply sat and watched. Somewhere in the egotistical CPU of Sunstreaker, he supposed that the sparkling was watching him, memorizing his moves.

Red Alert considered the news, and then reentered the room to look at the sparkling, who clicked softly, staring back. "What about his education?"

"Education?"

"Sideswipe! You can't honestly just expect to teach him everything he knows. He needs to go to school and other such things!" Red Alert groaned, optics going heavenward for patience. "And it's probably about time we'll want to start upgrading him into a new body."

Sideswipe stared at Red Alert, and then back down at Prowl. 'But he's so cute like this!"

"It's dangerous to leave them in a sparkling body after a certain amount of time." Red Alert said, sipping at a cube of energon. Sideswipe swiped Prowls own bottle, feeding the low-grade energon to Prowl.

Red Alert sighed again, dropping into a sitting position on the floor. Sideswipe stared narrowed-opticed at Red Alert. "You aren't glitching on us, are you?"

Red Alert shook his head, sighing. "No, I'm not. Anyways, I'm just here to get some more recharge before heading out once again. I'll be gone for awhile."

"And after?"

"I was thinking about getting a steady job guarding a nearby rich house." Red Alert said thoughtfully. "Not as high as the towers, but pretty darn close. After all, I can hardly trust you both with the sparkling, and I wonder whose sparkling it is anyways…"

"They obviously don't want him." Sunstreaker said, leaning out of the door. "I finished my newest painting. Want to see?"

Sideswipe grinned as he stood up. "Ever since we got you Prowl, it looks like we've been having some mighty good luck!"

Red Alert entered Sunstreaker studio, even as he agreed with Sideswipes assessment of the situation.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

( _Some vorns later_) Prowl looked up as Red Alert wearily staggered through the door. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were gone, and Red Alert looked close to tears. Which was unusual. "Red Alert?"

Red Alert turned at the younglings words. "Prowl! How was school?"

"It was good. I was bumped up a grade once more because of my grades."

Red Alert frowned, sitting down at a table. "That's not good. You need to learn some social skills-"

"Why?" Prowl asked bluntly. "According to my calculations, the chances of me needing them are zero."

Red Alerts head fell against the table. "Because I hope that you don't end up like me? Forgotten and hated by most mechs unless I'm doing my job."

Prowl gazed steadily at Red Alert, not saying what was flittering across his mind. He had watched as his 'creators' had worked hard to pull themselves out of the depths of poverty, Red Alert vanishing for weeks at a time in order to take care of business. It was Red Alert whom he had learned his work ethnic from, because Red Alert was the only one who had a steady job at all. Prow remembered the days Red Alert smuggled him to work, on the holidays asking Prowl to help out with the paperwork. Most of Prowls memories with Red Alert were in a quiet, monitor filled room, Red Alert watching while Prowl would work away at his own things.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had irregular jobs, and even odder lifestyles, flittering in and out of Prowls life at odd, random times. They had however taught him how to fight hand-to-hand, while Red Alert had promised that one-day he'd get Prowl onto a firing range, even though guns were for the most part banned.

Red Alert sighed, an almost defeated sound, as Prowl rose and fetched a cube of energon. The steaming cube was placed in front of him, and Red Alert dredged up a small nod of thanks as he began to sip at the hot liquid. "Did work not go well?"

"Not well? I swear that everyone in work is out to get me." Red Alert said, optics shuttering fast. "First there was the idiot who thought he was a security mech and completely reset the sound levels. Then there was the other idiot who switched cameras around, putting several of the ones designed for inside outside, and vice versa."

Red Alert snorted bitterly. "And I still have a stack of datapads to fill out for reports."

Prowl offered, even thought he knew the answer, "I will help with the datapads."

"No." It was instantaneous, and Prowl knew that there was a 100 percent chance of Red Alert saying it. But, he still had to ask. "What about homework Prowl? How are you doing with that?"

"I am already done." Prowl said softly, looking at the wall behind Red Alert. "I'm bored as well, without any work to do-"

Red Alert perked up at that. "That's right. I saw some datapads you might like. Their old historical things, that go more in depth about Cybertrons history then what is usually mentioned."

Prowl took the datapads, and then suddenly he asked, "Are you and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker my actual creators?"

"No. We're triplets, remember? Even though we don't look alike-"

"How did that happen?"

"I was unexpected, so they had to rush to find a body for my spark. That's apparently why I have my glitch; I nearly died in the first few moments of my creation."

Prowl looked at Red Alert, who sighed. "That reminds me Prowl. When's creator-teacher conferences?"

"A week from now."

"I'll have to make time for it." Red Alert murmured.

Prowl winced inwardly. While he appreciated Red Alerts willingness, he usually preferred Sideswipe to come. "Are you sure that's a good idea, with your glitch-"

Red Alert looked up at Prowl, and then back down at his energon cube. "I suppose you're right. Just wanted to check out the school."

"What for?"

"Well, I got the latest batch of rumors, and I wanted to shift through some of them. A lot of them are circling about Prime, and Megatron and rumors of a war. If a war does happen…"

Red Alert paused, frowning. "I fear for the twins and myself. We'll all probably be separated. I can handle it better then the twins, since with my job I'm gone from them most of the time anyways, but the twins are hardly ever apart. And, well, we haven't told anyone we're triplets for a long, long time."

"Why not?" Prowl asked, interested.

"Because in school I was often picked on by other mechs, especially those who hated the twins. After all, I'm smaller, and weaker then both the twins. So, in order to protect me, we pretended that we never knew each other during school. During our creation day parties I would vanish, and-"

Red Alert shrugged, "I don't blame the twins for how my life turned out, but sometimes I wonder what might of happened if I was an only child. Too late to worry about it now."

Red Alert stood up, motioning to Prowl. "Come on, I'll show you some of the rumors floating around, and you can go ahead and analyze them to think about later."

As Prowl followed Red Alert, he could only think that there was something that Red Alert wasn't telling him. While none of the three would say how old they actually were, Prowl knew that they found him when they were about the cybertronian equivalent of 16. Which meant they should still be around their creators, but not once had the three even so much as mentioned their creators. Their was also the problem of them wanting to keep anyone from knowing the Prowl was raised by them. It made sense to a certain extent. All three went beyond that extent.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Red Alert!"

Red Alerts head came around the corner, and he stared at the twins. "What did you two do? Switch paintjobs?"

"Shut up!" Sunstreaker hissed, glaring. A long streak of rubbed off red paint was down his right side, and he was supporting Sideswipe. "It's not my fault that both mechs decided to go after me-"

Red Alert shook his head as he ushered the two in, sighing softly. "I swear you two are going to come home in a horrible condition that no medic will be able to fix, and die."

Prowl came around the corner, holding a datapad. "Red Alert?"

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker didn't bother covering up their injuries. They had come back home with worse, and Prowl was used to them disappearing at odd times to come back damaged. Sometimes they didn't, but usually-

"Red Alert, they've been dumping more and more mechs on us. We're facing up to five mechs at a time now."

"And what do you want me to do about it?" Red Alert snarled back, hands quickly sealing off a leaking tube. "I can't fight-"

"You can. If you let go of your glitch." Sideswipe replied. "C'mon Red Alert. Just tomorrow."

"Tomorrow!" Red Alert looked up, staring at Sideswipe in shock. "You two don't ever go twice in a row!"

"We have too. Tomorrow is when some officials are coming, so we can get a lot of money if we go."

Red Alert looked back down as Prowl asked quietly, "What do you mean, letting his glitch go?"

"We're all part of one spark Prowl. We all love fighting; Red Alert here just simply channels it in a different way. However, if he goes ahead and forgets about his glitch, he's a lot stronger then he looks."

Red Alert said nothing, his hands not even shaking as he sealed tubes and changed out wiring. "Twins… I'll come."

Prowl stared in shock at Red Alert, who looked at the two grimly. "But, it's only because I know you two won't leave me alone unless I do. After this, I'm never going into the ring again."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker didn't grin in triumph. A lot of the convincing had been across the bond, not anything they had said, and they had nearly forced Red Alert to agree. But, they needed that money.

Prowl looked at Red Alert, asking, "Are you sure? Theirs a ninety percent chance that you'll get pulled in again after you do it once-"

Red Alert sighed, nodding. "Yes Prowl. I'm sure."

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

I've already gotten a complaint where this closely mirrors the other twins raise Prowl fic, and I am attempting to make this as original as possible. So be patient with me.

Hope you had fun, and weren't too put off by the big time leap.


	4. Chapter 4

Red Alert sighed, putting on the odd looking armor that Sunstreaker had created in order to protect their identities. _I can't believe that I'm actually doing this. I haven't let go and fought since-_ Red Alert flinched away from the thought, as Prowl came up, optics slightly worried.

Red Alert sighed, looking at Prowl. "Do I look ridiculous as I feel?"

Prowl frowned, and realized Red Alert was making a joke. "…Yes."

Red Alert mock-groaned, and then stiffened as a group of mechs came too close to the door then he would've liked. "Careful, stand back. Someone is coming in."

Prowl backed up into the shadows, auditory receptors scanning for what Red Alert had heard. Red Alert tensed, shifting into a fighting stance. Three mechs entered the room, one of them holding a bag. .:_Sides, Sunny-_:.

.:_We're coming._:. Came the twin assurances.

Red Alert switched his attention from the one nanoclick conversation, focusing on the three mechs gathering around him. He twitched, muttering, wishing he had something to back up against in order to keep his optics on all three of them at the same time.

Prowl shifted slightly, making all three look up. Red Alert didn't say anything, his optics merely burning and carving into the mechs faces-

The door slid open to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. "What's going on here?"

The threes heads turned, and one simply smirked. "Oh, just figuring out how badly your newest partner is going to be turned into mincemeat."

Sunstreaker growled, "Get out."

Red Alert waited until they left before his fist clenched. "Sides, Sunny, are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Having second thoughts?"

"Just listening to everything I can hear." Red Alert tapped his auditory receptor. "From what I can hear we've got to be facing ten opponents minimum."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker looked at each other and swore softly. "You sure?"

Red Alert nodded, optics gleaming in the darkness. Prowl looked at his three creators thinking. _Sunny is defiantly looking forward to this, as well as Sideswipe. Red Alert however-_

Red Alert suddenly smirked, a bloodthirsty smile as through the triplets bond some of Sideswipes and Sunstreakers lust for energon and his own lust spilled out. "We'll take them all down. We faced worse, right?"

"With our creators?"

The twins looked at Red Alert, and nodded. "Just be just like that time."

Prowl wondered what they were talking about, and he stepped forward. Sideswipe turned with a grin. "Good, Prowl, I got something to say to you. Watch your back. Fights break out among the crowds a lot, so don't be surprised if someone tries to pick one with you. Don't listen to them however, because we're depending on you."

Prowl nodded, optics thoughtful. "You wish for me to both gauge the crowds reactions and pick up the money, correct?'

"Yeah, after we win we have to get out of there fast, especially since we came with three instead of the regular two, and we don't want the guy to get his greedy mits on the three of us."

Red Alert smirked. "Just remember all of those times I took you to my job commissioning, and act like that."

"Tell no one anything about yourself." Sideswipe warned, looking at Prowl, and Sunstreaker nodded. "A lot of mechs hate us, so they'd try to use you as a weapon against us."

There was a sound from outside, and Red Alerts head tilted, he analyzed the conversations around him, and nearly blanched. 'Sides, Sunny, we're in for some trouble. Prowl, take this."

Before Prowl could say anything, a small gun was shoved into his hands. "You know the basics of guns."

"I know to point the nozzle at my enemy and pull the trigger, but-"

"Good, you just passed weapon training 101." Red Alert snapped, backpedaling from the door, tugging the twins gently after him. "Now, we're about to receive company, so please don't shoot us."

"Recoil?" Prowl asked, analyzing the situation.

Red Alert snapped it off, and Prowl adjusted himself accordingly. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker looked at Red Alert. "Red, what's going on?"

"Remember those three from earlier? Well, they've come back, with friends." Red Alert nearly spat, tensing.

The triplets formed a line in front of Prowl, instantly protecting the mech that they had raised. "Does this happen often?"

"Often enough. About half our injuries are from somebody deciding to get a leg in on our fight."

"I'm not so sure about this." Red Alert whispered, jittery. "If we wear ourselves out like this before the actual fight-"

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker stepped in front of Red Alert. "Red Alert, you go ahead and figure out how many we'll be facing. Listen in on and shift through all of those conversations you're hearing right now. How many enemies do we have anyways?"

"Ten, going on thirteen." Red Alert muttered. "But they have to get through the door, so they can only come two at a time."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker nodded, stepping up right to the door. Red Alert retreated into the back, pressing an auditory receptors against he smooth metal, expanding his listening area just a little more. Softly he began muttering to himself, horns sparking a slight, crackling blue as his glitch began to shriek more and more. Whatever he was hearing, he wasn't liking.

The door slid open to reveal a veritable mob in the process outside of the door. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker grinned, the armor they had on making itself clear to those outside. Very few would guess that a cities artist and a cities underhand dealer were in the armor. And even fewer mechs would've guessed that the third mystery mech about to fight was their own security director.

Red Alert listened as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker fought, blocking the doorway. Their was a wince, and Red Alerts face tightened for a moment, before he went back to analyzing the different sounds. At last he sat back, shaking his head. "Twenty. They want three against twenty. This is going to be tough."

"I'll fight." Prowl said, next to Red Alert. "Analyzing your current fighting ability, you'd all be torn apart in two breems."

Red Alert shook his head as Sideswipe called back over his shoulder, "Oh you of little faith! Don't worry, we'll take care of it just fine."

The last of Sideswipes and Sunstreaker opponents collapsed, and Sunstreaker looked down at his hands, already covered in energon, making a slight sound.

Prowl muttered, "Going into such a dangerous situation-"

Red Alert slid the door closed, then turned to Sideswipe. "Arm."

Sideswipe extended the arm to a rather nasty looking scrape. Red Alert eyed it for a moment, and Prowl offered, "I'll clean it."

Red Alert stood back as Prowl repeated the same measures that he had watched Red Alert do a thousand times over of cleaning, and patching up the wound. "Alright. It's patched up."

Red Alert nodded, and the three strolled outside to start the fight.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Prowl made his way through the crowd to the arena. Silently he settled down in one corner, staring down at the pit in which the three would be fighting. _This is bad, this is very bad. No matter how many time I calculate it, I can't figure out how their going to win-_

Prowl scowled at the metal floor, thinking back to all of the times Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had trained him in self-defense. He pressed a hand to his side, realizing he still had Red alerts gun. Hurriedly he subspaced it before anyone could notice, and then their was a loud, roaring cheer.

_I cannot believe that I am at on of these competitions. I knew Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are here often enough, but for me to be with them…_ Prowl shook his head, and his optics narrowed as Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Red Alert, all nearly unrecognizable in their fake armor, stepped out into the middle of the arena.

Prowl noticed that Red Alerts horns had been painted a dark black, almost as if they were attempting to see if they could hide-

Twenty mechs poured in from the other sides, as the odds were heavily put down against Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. All three shifted stances, waiting for the signal- CLANG!

And the fight was on.

Red Alert moved faster then Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, a foot slamming into an opponent's midriff. A click later, Sunstreakers fist was in the mechs face, and the mech went down as Sideswipe tore off an arm of another mech. Sunstreaker picked up a mech, throwing it bodily into its companions, and with a laugh, Red Alert darted into the open area created, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker following.

Sideswipes grin was feral, and shone in the poorly lit light. Prowl could see that underneath the paint, Red Alerts horns were nearly pure blue. Sunstreaker suddenly roared, hurtling at the nearest mechs, hand open and ready to clench onto something to tear it off. Red Alert and Sideswipe went back to back for a split moment, before Red Alert suddenly switched places with Sideswipe, and both charged the opposites sides of the group.

.:_You two didn't need me for this._:. Red Alert complained, hand coming down on the back of an opponents neck. The mech dropped as Sideswipe replied.

.:_You're right. But you need to vent your frustration as well. Besides, Me and Sunstreaker have a bet going on how many you can offline._:. Both were joking, attempting to keep their CPUs off of the memories that would rise up otherwise.

Red Alert hissed in pain as one mech scored a lucky hit down his side, and he turned fast, snarling. The mech backed away, but Red Alert hurtled at it, fist slamming into his face. .:_Well, unless you noticed, I'm not exactly built for this type of fighting. I do much better from a distance with a gun._:.

.:_Yeah, we know Red Alert. Just keep on fighting._:.

Sunstreaker destroyed the last opponent, and Sideswipe and Red Alert warily took a step back. The crowd had erupted into cheers, and Red Alert said, .:_You know, their never going to stop bugging you two until you bring me in here again._:.

.:_Don't think this is over yet. We're staying for the night._:. Sideswipe warned, and Red Alert looked up, searching the crowds for Prowl.

Sunstreaker was also searching, and Sideswipe felt the worry across the bond. .:_Don't worry, he'll be perfectly fine._:. came back the soft whisper across the bond.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

There, hope this lived up to all of your expectations… I have a really hard time writing fighting scenes. A preview for the next chapter – someone we all know and love makes his first appearance!


	5. Chapter 5

Prowl had been steadily jostled away from the arena, and was currently fighting his way back. He had nearly crashed at the unexpectedness of Red Alerts fighting, and now… Prowl paused as a silver mech with a visor across his optics leaned coolly against a pillar, grinning at him. For some odd reason he hesitated, before turning back to fight his way through the crowd.

The silver mech was briefly startled. It wasn't often that he was ignored. Prowl managed to fight his way to the edge of the arena once again, and his spark rose as he spotted Sideswipe and Sunstreaker standing on a pile of off-lined mechs, cheering. Red Alert stood off to the side, shaking his head silently.

Several mechs hurried into the arena to clean out the bodies, And Prowl listened in on conversations around him, attempting to gauge the crowds reactions and how much of a chance Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had.

Thirty mechs poured into the arena, and the crowd began to cheer, expecting energon to go flying once more.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker hastily got off the bodies, and all three formed a triangle, allowing the thirty mechs to encircle them. Prowl watched, worried, as the three got ready to attack- "Fan?"

Prowl didn't bother to turn. "Who are you?" he demanded coldly.

The mech chuckled. "I'm called Jazz."

A hand was extended, which Prowl coolly ignored, even as he leaned in further to get a glimpse of Sideswipe tossing an arm away. The mech held it out for a moment longer, and then hurt, he brought it back. Then, he brightened once again. "Are you a fan of those two?'

Prowl had no idea how to answer, so he instead decided not to answer, and to ignore the mech in hopes that he would go away. It worked with everyone else… apparently not with this mech, for they began chatting Prowls auditory units off, "They've been around for vorns! They appeared one night, and began to fight. The third one is new, of course, but I think I've just about figured out their identities, but the third one has thrown in a real stickler into the midst. Because the two I'm thinking of hardly ever leave home."

Prowl had gradually begun stiffening through the entire talk, and he turned at that. "You know who they are?"

"I thought I knew. I've been searching for vorns now as well. I guessed wrong however. Those two would never ask for help."

Prowls optics narrowed, and at last he nodded. "But you know, that small one looks a lot like a security mech I saw a few days ago." The silver mech said thoughtfully.

Prowl didn't flinch, didn't show his emotions. "I see."

"By the way, my names Jazz. What's yours?"

"None of your business." Came back the short reply.

Jazz winced once again, and Prowl felt a little bad for being so short to the mech. And then he wondered at himself. He hadn't cared about what another thought about him since he told himself that his adoptive creators approval was all that really mattered. Prowl wondered if he should apologize to the mech, but at last decided that it would be pointless at this moment.

He turned his attention back to the arena as Red Alert was tossed against the wall. He groaned, and slowly struggled into a standing position, his arm half destroyed. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were not in much better sharp.

Then Red Alert did something unexpected. He threw his head back and screamed, a high-pitched, rattling scream that made more then one mech pause to stare.

The twins attacked in that moment of surprise, and the rest of the enemies were destroyed. The three limped off, and Prowl nodded. "Interesting."

He coolly looked around, optics probing into the crowd. Several were still stunned, but a lot were on their feet, screaming. The unexpected turn-around had captured the sparks of many, and even the announcer was stunned. _We should get a nice, big fat bonus from this._ Prowl thought coolly, head tilting, Jazz forgotten.

0o0o0o0o0

Jazz scowled as the datsun's head tilted, considering. The datsun at last stood up and stalked off, an odd, graceful being among the hot, shouting mechs. He was as cold as ice, while those around him tried to melt him, they couldn't- _Whoa Jazz, no time to wax poetic here! I gotta find out who he is-_

But it was too late. The mech was swallowed up in the crowd, and Jazz felt sickly certain that he'd probably never hear from the mech again.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker supported Red Alert into the room, and lay him down gently. Red Alert, too tired to speak out loud, .:_We defeated them all, right?_:.

"Yep, we did. Go ahead and get some recharge. We can't leave now, it'll attract too much attention with how badly we're damaged, and we need to wait until most are gone anyways."

Red Alert looked at them, and then nodded. Sunstreaker snarled, "You stopped mid-fight! What happened?"

.:_Prowl was talking to another mech who claimed to know who we were. I nearly lost the conversation among the yells and screams, but ask… him._:. Red Alert was out at that, clicking softly like a sparkling and his horns still sparking bright blue every now and then.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker let their triplet rest, looking up as the door slid open and Prowl entered, holding a stack of credits. "I got it. The crowd was surprised that there were three of you, but I have insufficient amount of data in order to compare it."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker said nothing. Prowl looked at Red Alert, and then asked, "Is he ok?"

"Yeah, just tired. Fighting takes a lot out of him-"

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker sat next to Red Alert, slightly worried. Prowl settled across from them, thinking. "What's the matter Prowl? You seem to be thinking deep, even for you."

"I… met someone."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker stiffened, recalling Red Alerts words. "They asked you about us, right? Red Alert said something like that before he passed out, and he said that the reason why he got caught in the first place was because of that conversation."

Prowl nodded. "But, with Red Alert, you've thrown him off the scent. I suggest you keep Red Alert out of the arena from now on. They'll be looking for three mechs sneaking away tonight, and since we're four-"

Prowl shrugged, his CPU quickly calculating the odds of anyone figuring out that it was them. "The odds are 82.54 percent that they are unable to figure it out. Slightly lower then I would've liked, but-"

Red Alert suddenly came out of recharge, reaching for his weapon, snarling, "You're not going to get me-"

The door slid open five clicks later. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were already heading for the door as Prowl placed himself in front of Red Alert, whose armor was off. Prowl grabbed a tarp, throwing it over Red Alert to protect his identity.

Prowl looked at Sideswipe and Sunstreaker as they fought, tearing into the mechs who wanted to finish them off and claim rewards for it. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had kept their armor on, thankfully, so they could fight. Red Alert however- "Prowl, behind you!"

Prowl turned, ducking as someone managed to sneak up behind him. It was a mini-bot, that had somehow managed to crawl in from somewhere. Prowl lashed out, reacting as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had taught him, off-lining but not killing the mech. Red Alert sighed softly, still tense and wary beneath the covering tarp.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker came trotting back, and congratulated Prowl as Red Alert shakily stood up. "With the fight that just went on, they'll think Red Alert and I are losers." Prowl observed. "We can get Red Alert out and to a medic-"

Red Alert shook his head. "No. It'll still attract too much attention. Prowl, go home. We'll come back as soon as possible. But, the longer you stay here, the longer you're in danger, and more of a chance of being recognized."

Prowl nodded, and reluctantly left.

Red Alert smiled as he said, "So, do you think we did a good job of raising him?"

"Yeah. By the way, how badly are you bleeding?"

"Not too badly. It's mostly stopped now. But I really need to see a medic. But not now. For now, let me recharge."

Red Alerts optics offlined, as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker started guarding the door, Sunstreaker grumbling about his paint job.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Prowl headed out of the building, noticing that he seemed to have picked up a stalker. His optics narrowed, and silently he began doubling back on his path, crisscrossing main avenues, and trying to loose whoever was stalking him.

As far as he could tell, it was working. Prowl calculated coolly, using everything that Red Alert had taught him about loosing an unwanted mech on your trail. Half of what he knew had been actual teaching, the other half was simply watching their every-day actions. Sideswipe was the model for sociable, Sunstreaker the model for arrogant, vain, but easily overlooked, and Red Alert was the model for twitchy paranoia.

Prowl paused, in the middle of the sidewalk, listening to the people ebb and whirl around him. Then, with a suddenness that surprised even him, he ducked into a club.

Prowl listened as feet hurried up to the doorway for a moment, and then pause.

The silver mech from earlier, Jazz, came strolling in, looking as if he owned the place. Prowls optics narrowed, and he drew into a shadowed corner of the room, letting the heavy beat of cybertronian music flow over him, and silently edged around the room back towards the door, avoiding Jazz's optics.

At last he slipped outside of the door, and hurried home, always double checking, and taking a longer, more dangerous route. He calculated that there was a 1 percent chance that Jazz would somehow find the house, and that chance was low enough that Prowl actually smirked a little as he strolled inside.

The house changed very little since the days when he had been a sparkling. Certainly it was a little older, and much more worn looking, but a normal mech couldn't tell four mechs lived inside. They could tell at least one did, from the way Sideswipe scattered his things, but Red Alerts paranoia kept his own items usually locked away where his triplets couldn't see them, and Sunstreaker was neater then Sideswipe. As for Prowl, _I don't have that much to begin with._ Prowl thought sourly, and then shook himself.

He had school in the morning.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Jazz cursed as he didn't spot the mech from earlier. He obviously knew _something_ about the three warriors, even though Jazz only had a gut feeling about such a thing. But, slag it all, he didn't even have a name! _I skipped school for this? Chasing down two mechs, who suddenly grow to three, and a mystery mech who completely ignored me…_

Jazz groaned. Eager as he was to be part of Optimus Primes team, this wasn't what he had in mind as one of his first missions. Jazz scanned the crowd once more, and at last shrugged, walking back out. _I'm going have to ask Blaster to lend me Steeljaw or something._ Jazz thought. _Maybe that guy could track this mech._

SsSsssSsSsSsSsSs

So… was it whom you guessed? Huh? Huh? I couldn't resist pulling Jazz in so early, though Inferno probably won't be coming in until much, much later…


	6. Chapter 6

Prowl was beginning to pace worriedly. They were two breems overdue, and while he had calculated hold-ups, their shouldn't be any hold ups this badly…. Sunstreaker staggered in, carrying Red Alert, and Sideswipe leaning against him. "Prowl, get the medical kit."

Prowl opened up the medical kit from where he had already had it, as Sunstreaker cursed. "Red Alert somehow managed to walk out of the building and out of sight as if he was perfectly fine, but then he collapsed. I've been trying to figure out some story-"

"High-grade." Prowl said quickly.

"That's odd for Red Alert, though, right?" Sideswipe asked, fuzzily trying to keep onlined.

Prowl began to liberally apply his medical knowledge, gleaned from watching others and reading about it, as he worked. His CPU rushed over a tumult of ideas, each one stupider, and much less likely to work then the last. And they all depended on Red Alert being able to wake up in the morning.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Prowl looked at his internal clock, and groaned softly. Red Alert should be reporting in to work- Red Alert onlined slowly, struggling to sit up. Prowl said quietly, "Red Alert, lay back down. The chances of you straining your wounds-"

"Phone. Got to tell my underlings that I won't be able to make it." Red Alert gasped, hand out.

Prowl stood up and walked off to get the communication device. While Red Alert had a comm. link, it wasn't something he could use for something so small. Usually mechs would use pagers, but- Prowl placed the communication unit next to Red Alerts head after dialing the correct number.

Red Alert winced as someone spoke, but he gasped out, "Listen to me Moonswift. I was doing a patrol last night and got mixed up with an illegal dealing. I got injured-"

A short squawking noise. "I'm fine."

"…No, I'm OK, I'm currently at home-"

A short blurb. "No, don't worry about me, I'll be at work by tomorrow at the latest."

Prowl glared, which Red Alert didn't notice. "Yes, I'm sure I'm ok, just listen, I don't want you spreading about that I'm not at work today, got it? Hide it anyway possible. It'll take me a few orns to track down and throw the group into jail, and until then, I don't want them to know I'm still up."

Sideswipe staggered into the room, yawning. Red Alerts optics flickered up to Sideswipe, and then they nodded at each other. "And Moonswift? Keep this entirely to yourself. Pretend I'm there."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Moonswift hung up the communications device, nearly bursting with pride. Red Alert didn't often talk to those underneath him, and he had called _him_, and of all mechs, he was the one who was privileged to know that Red Alert wasn't actually at work.

The security director in training looked around, optics scanning the area as Red Alert would've done. He moved into the control room, and looked around at the equipment that Red Alert had added over the vorns. _You know, Optimus Prime was talking about recruiting a Security Director… Red Alert might be perfect for him._

0o0o0o0o0o0

Prowl scowled, but he knew that if he did not show up at school this day, mechs would be suspicious. He didn't miss a school of day. Ever. As it was, he was going to be late if he didn't hurry-

"Hey, you're that mech from the gladiator pits!" Came the cheery voice.

Prowl stiffened, and instantly snapped to a conclusion. _He's stalking me. Take him out, and drag him into the nearest police station._

Jazz barely had time to duck as Prowls hand lashed out, it only just clipping the top of his helm. "Whoa! Calm down!" Jazz cried, not panicking, but surprised.

"Correction, you are a stalker." Prowl said coldly. "You have tried to follow me home once, and I was willing to let that go, but meeting me on this corner is not a big enough of a percentage of a coincidence in order to make you anything but a stalker. I am just taking procedures in order to stop you."

Jazz stared at the mech, thinking fast. _Slag, slag, slag! He's not going to stop-_

Prowl took a step forward, and Jazz blurted, "Isn't it against the law to attack innocent bystanders? I was just traveling in the same direction-"

Jazz was forced to cut off and move backwards as a foot lashed out, and Prowls door wings rose a little higher. "Unlikely. The percent of such a chance is less then twenty percent. Besides Law 3-99012 states that the law against brawling in the streets is void if the victim is being stalked, hunted, or otherwise molested."

"You memorized the laws?" Jazz asked, gaping.

Prowl nodded. "I did." His voice was frozen cold. The reason why he had memorized them was because he was often bored at school, and Red Alert had an abundance of datapads filled with laws, rules, edicts, statements, and rules. His CPU was monetarily distracted by the fact that he had repeated a word, and Jazz took advantage of this fact to hold up both hands, shouting.

"Look, I'm sorry! I'm not meaning to stalk you-"

Prowls optics narrowed and he snapped out of the momentary distraction to vanish into the crowds that were slowly beginning to gather. Jazz cursed heavily as he realized Prowl was gone. "Slag it! I just wanted his name!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sideswipe glared narrowed-opticed at the dealer in front of him, snarling, "What do you mean by that?"

"Easy, No one wants just the two of you anymore, then want all three of you."

"And I told you the third is no longer available. This was a one time deal."

"But look at the money-"

"No!" Sideswipe was rapidly running out of his temper, fueled by Sunstreakers and Red Alerts anger. Both were stuck inside of the house, forced to stay low. Sideswipe usually had a few wounds on him whenever he traveled.

"Well, it's either that or your out." The mech said complacently.

Sideswipe snapped. With a snarling roar he charged over the table, gripping the mech by the neck and lifting him up. "Listen up you stupid slagger, I did it once. Period. There will never again be a third member. You try to threaten us, and I swear I will kill you and put everyone else out of commission, and the third member will come to kick your sorry afts if you manage to kill me somehow."

The mechs face was rapidly draining as Sideswipe shook him like a terrier would to a rat. "Now, we are going to fight when we want. IF you're lucky, we might even contemplate bringing our third with us. Is that clear?"

Murderous rage danced in Sideswipes optics as Sunstreaker and Red Alert cheered him on, their bloodlust fueling his own. The mech squeaked, "Yes."

Sideswipe dropped him and strolled out of the room. Red Alert asked softly, .:_Was that maybe a little much?_:.

.:_Nah, he knows if he refuses to let us in, he looses half of his customers._:. came back the two reassurances.

Red Alert commented dryly, .: _Well, I suppose me going in was a bad idea-_:.

.:_Nah, it was a good one Red. Don't worry. Just go ahead and sleep that CPU ache away._:.

Red Alert was silent, and their bond to him faded as he slipped into a faint, uneasy recharge. Sideswipe got home, plopping heavily down next to Red Alert. "Hey, Sunny, do you think this was a good idea? We might have fried his circuits, just like what happened last time."

The two mechs shared slightly worried looks. They hadn't told Prowl, but the reason why Red Alert didn't fight was because when he let loose, his CPU would fry from the crackling energy his glitch would generate. They had nearly lost Red Alert once from the same sort of thing before, when-

Two CPUs instantly wrenched away from the thought, and Sideswipe stood up. "I wonder how Prowls doing."

0o0o0o0o0

Prowl slipped into his seat, three nanoclicks late. Which meant exactly five breems before the rest of the class should be filing in. The teacher, an old, nearly rusted mech, looked up. "Prowl. There have been some inquiries to you."

Prowl stiffened. The teacher was not a joking type, and he seemed deadly serious. "I was told that a mech was looking for some tacticians, ones who were smart and closed mouthed, and I recommended you."

Prowl nearly crashed, but he struggled to keep onlined. "You did _what_?"

The teacher didn't seem to notice the unusual amount of emotion in Prowls voice. "I recommended you. You'd be a waste in a police center, and you'd find a much more challenging job if you were to go directly under the government-"

Prowl said nothing. All his records were fake, very good fakes, but fake nonetheless. No one knew who his creators were, he didn't have a serial number to say where he had come from, he was simply abandoned. And found, and raised by three of the most unusual mechs to walk the city- "Ah, there you are! Jazz, meet Prowl, one of our top students. Prowl, this is Jazz."

Prowl stared at Jazz, and then his CPU crashed.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSSs

Yes, I know, it's cruel of me. I do love abusing the characters. (grins evily)


	7. Chapter 7

Jazz stared in distinct shock as the mech that he had been supposed to meet was the one from the last cycle. The other mech seemed equally surprised, for he stared at Jazz for a few moments, then there was a sudden sound, and Prowl toppled out of his seat.

Jazz said the first thing he could think of. "I killed him!"

"No, calm down." The teacher frowned at Jazz. "Impatient young bots. He merely crashed. Go get he school nurse."

Jazz hesitated, and the teacher sighed. "Two doors down."

Jazz dashed off, and the teacher slowly made his way over to Prowl, joints creaking from age and wear.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Jazz came hurrying back with the school nurse, a young femme just out of medical school. He sat nervously, optics tracking the nurse as she sighed, shaking her head. "Again?"

"Yes. But this time I don't think it was done on purpose."

Jazz looked up at that. Someone had made Prowl crash on purpose? He was going to find them and rip their sparks out- A student walked into the room, and stopped. "Hey, guys, looks like _he_ crashed again."

Jazz glared at the femme, who fearlessly glared back. "Does this happen often?"

"Every time something impossible, or not logical happens. I think its part of a damage to his CPU or something, but it had to of happened when he was a sparkling."

_Slag. If Prime doesn't like that then he won't agree to keep Prowl on-_ Jazz shook his CPU. Hard. _What am I thinking? I haven't even checked him out yet! No data on where he lives, how he works-_

Prowl groaned softly, something that made Jazzs spark flutter for some odd reason. Slowly the datsun sat up, holding his head in his hands. Then he looked up. "Stalker."

"I'm not!" Jazz protested, staring at the mech. "I'm really not! It was just pure coincidence-"

"Not possible. The chances are-"

"Below twenty percent. I know, you told me when you were attacking me on the street." Jazz said, grinning. "So, do you often greet mechs by attacking?"

Prowl stared at Jazz, who had a sinking sensation that he had just caused the poor mech to crash again- "Prowl, Jazz, how about we move to the teachers lounge. That way we can discuss this privately."

Prowl nodded, standing up and coldly refusing all offers of help. The nurse didn't look affronted, even as she nodded and walked back to her office. Jazz had a feeling that it was going to be a long cycle.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"No."

Jazz paused in his monologue about how serving Optimus Prime would have great benefits, and looked at Prowl, who had spoken. "What?"

"I said no. I have no wish to get involved in a war, and I need to tell my creators about this before I make any set plans."

Jazz groaned. Creators usually refused to let their creations get anywhere near such things. Prowl stood up, saying frostily, "I am now twenty breems late for class, so if you'll excuse me-"

"Wait!"

Prowl tuned, one optic ridge cocked. Jazz tossed a small datapad at him. "If you ever decide to come, this datapad has all of the data and information you need to contact us."

Prowl stared at it for a moment, before storing it in subspace. Reluctantly he nodded, and walked out. Jazz fell back with a frustrated groan. _My day cannot get too much worse._

0o0o0o0o0

Prowl moved towards his home, always alert for possible watcher. The meeting with Jazz had left him on edge, and Prowl was more then willing to pull a Red Alert at the moment. _I wonder if this is how he got so paranoid._ Drifted in the odd, random thought, which Prowl brutally shoved away. _Now is not the time for idling! I need to get home and check up on Red Alert._

Prowl entered his home, after double-checking to make sure that no silver shadow was following him. Silently he slipped through the home, finding it empty. At last he came across a note:

_Prowl, Red Alerts CPU got fried from last night, so we're off to a doctor. Make sure to lock the house, and don't let anyone in._

Prowl stared at the note, and wondered idly for a moment if he should call the hospital, before realizing that Red Alerts room in the hospital would be one of the non-calling ones. Silently he tossed the pad onto a stack, and then stalked into the kitchen for a cube.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker waited anxiously for the doctors news as Sideswipe paced up and down the hallway. The doctor came out at last. "Well doc?"

"He'll live. He was depleted from Energon loss as well as having his CPU fried, so he might of lost a few memories, but we're already downloading and uploading to a different CPU chip which we'll use to replace-"

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had already stopped listening after hearing the words, 'He'll be fine'. .:_Red?_:.

.:_Here. Where am I? What the slag do you think-_:. Red Alerts dreamy feeling vanished to be replaced by panic, and there was a loud crash from inside of the room.

None of the doctors flinched, well used to treating unwilling patients. There were a couple of discreet offers to help, which the doctor waved away as soft, weak cursing poured from the room. .:_Easy Red Alert, you're in a hospital. Just go ahead and relax._:.

Red Alert relaxed, but across the bond they could feel the ever-pulsing wariness that characterized Red Alert. The doctor nodded, and turned to talk to his patient.

0o0o0o0o0o

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker went home late that night, both sticking around to reassure Red Alert that the doctors weren't going to take him apart for spare pieces, nor were they going to use him in any experiments.

Sideswipe paused, looking around as he thought he heard a soft sound. Sunstreaker also tensed, years of battling in the pits making both tense in a fighting stance. The noise didn't happen again however, and as time slowly trickled past, Sideswipe shrugged.

Both continued on their way, not noticing as a small mech trotted into view, looking after them. At last it seemed to shrug, and then it continued on towards the main control room of he city.

0o0o0o0o0o00

Prowl looked up as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker entered through the door. "Sideswipe. Sunstreaker."

"Prowl! What are you still doing up?" Sideswipe asked, as Sunstreakers optics began to narrow.

Prowl was just glad that they couldn't see the small dent from where he had crashed earlier. All three could be considered overprotective, Red Alert more so, since he had gone through much of the same bullying and teasing that Prowl had gone through. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker tended to take things into their own hands however, and Prowl didn't want half the city crashing down around his ears. "I got an unusual offer today at school."

He subspaced the datapad, giving it to Sideswipe. Sideswipe took it, looking it over carefully, Sunstreaker right behind him. Both looked at each other, stunned. "Optimus Prime?"

"Leader of the Autobot faction?"

"Pay is high."

"Yes, and you'd probably not be going to battles yourself, if it were to ever come to that."

Both looked at Prowl, and Sideswipe asked, "So, you going to take it?"

Prowl shifted a bit uncomfortably. "I was hoping to get some more information on this mech, what his ideals stand for, and other such things before coming to a decision. I do not wish to make the wrong choice and be bound by it."

The two traded looks. "Let's see, you don't have any set time in which to call, correct?"

"Correct."

"Well, Red Alert should be able to pull up some data, and me 'n' Sunny can ask around." Sideswipe said thoughtfully. "No one will mind it if we're the ones asking around."

Prowl nodded, and the twins suddenly smirked. "Who gave this to you?"

Prowl muttered something, and fled the room. He felt really badly about his actions towards Jazz, and was somewhere in his CPU making a private vow to treat the silver mech nicer if he ever got the chance to.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The next day, Prowl onlined to hear Red Alert arguing violently with Sideswipe. "You want me to do what?"

"Please Red Alert! Prowl got an offer! We need you to check it out and see what you can dig up about it."

Red Alert fell silent, and then slowly he said, "I already know a lot about it. When war first began its rumors, I began looking up possible factions. There are two. Autobots… are the only ones I would want to join after hearing rumors."

Prowl listened as Red Alert lay out the information he had gleaned over the vorns, his computer whirling to take it all. Finally Red Alert stopped, and called back, "What do you think Prowl?"

Prowl grimaced slightly. Trust Red Alert to know that he was onlined and listening. Judging from the twins squawks however, they hadn't known. "I have to agree with you Red Alert. But, theirs still a twenty-five percent chance that half the rumors are false, and are just merely planted for propaganda sake."

Red Alert nodded, smirking. "That's right, there is. But- you're going to be late for school unless you start moving. I'm already late for work. Now, goodbye."

Prowl left the building, Red Alert branching off to go to work somewhere behind him, thinking hard. He knew there was an 80 percent chance that Jazz would be there at the school, waiting for an answer.

As he silently walked along, he turned over in his mind the different possibilities and advantages. They were closely weighed in by the disadvantages and lies that were no doubt circulating about Autobot forces. "Hey, Prowler!"

Prowl paused, confused, wondering if he had heard that right. Jazz came trotting up to him from out of the crowd, and his optics narrowed. "I should drag you in to the police station for being a nuisance item." He said, optics cold and clear.

Jazz winced, and Prowl felt slightly bad. "What are you doing here anyways?" Prowl asked, hoping to smooth over the earlier comment. It worked a little as Jazz perked up.

"Well, I heard that you lived over nearby here, so I was hoping to talk to you before you got to school. What sort of music do you like to listen to anyways? I've probably got it."

"I don't listen to music." Came back the short reply.

Jazz stood for a moment, stunned. "Aww, c'mon-"

Prowl wondered how even with a visor Jazz seemed to give him the 'kicked puppy dog look'. "Very well. Do you have some quiet songs?"

Jazz grinned as a soft, quiet melody filled the air. The streets were still a little clear, but they would be getting into the crowded section of the city any time soon- Prowl, through strict discipline, managed not to toss Jazz over one shoulder as a hand suddenly descended upon him. "Hey, wait a moment. Yo! Astrine! Give us a ride to school!"

The shuttle, passing nearby, chuckled. Prowl however, snapped, "I am not going in there. There is a twenty five percent chance that we can be rerouted, and I'm already late enough."

Jazz winced at Prowls monotone, but Astrine was not so easily put off. "Alright, if you don't want a ride to make things go faster-"

The sentence was left hanging, but Prowl didn't even consider the possibility. He had a feeling if he did, he'd be stuck on the mech, and that was the last thing he wanted. With a quiet, grave nod, he turned and vanished into the crowds.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Slag it." Jazz said, slumping inside Astrine. "What am I doing wrong?"

"Nothing. I take it he's always like this. No doubt he lives in a seedier part of town where free rides equals being taken apart for spare pieces. Don't worry about it Jazz."

"Still, I was out there early to see him and everything."

Astrine was quiet for a moment, before the walls began to shake as he said, "Ohhh, Jazz has a crush, Jazz has a crush-"

"Shut up Astrine! Today's my last day here! If I don't recruit him now, I'll probably never see him again."

Jazz mentally chewed on his fingernails, CPU doing gyrations to figure out some way to convince Prowl.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Outside of the city walls, a large group of mechs, armed and dead, stood in silence, waiting for the signal- a beep sounded.

The leader turned. "All right Decepticons! Today is the day of declaring war! We'll wipe out all of those pathetic Autobots and neutrals! Remember! We are not to leave _any_ alive!"

An energon-hungry roar went up, reaching for the sky.

SsSsSsSsSssSsSsSs

I should make Prowl crash from the illogical feelings of love, but I'm not going to be that mean to Jazz. However, I am going to have a fight. FIGHT OR DIE!!

Red Alert: (giving prep talk) Remember, never say die!

?: DIE!

Red Alert: That was the other team.


	8. War Begins

Prowl was just getting into the building as the first screams started. He paused, optics turning to where a large plum of smoke slowly began to drift out over the sky, and his spark nearly froze. _Red Alert works in that area._

Without stopping to think, Prowl ran towards the smoke, transforming into his vehicle form without a second thought. He drove fast through the lanes, sliding from side-to-side to avoid the onrushing mechs, all fleeing from the area. He spotted a few others struggling to make it towards the area, but a majority was fleeing.

There was a sudden, shrill scream that split the air, and the sound of firing. Red Alerts voice rose clearly over the shouts of other mechs, saying, "Moonswift, take five men and circle around! Keep on firing until they lie down and die! Aswna and Keyknight, go and start organizing the people to evacuate the area. Moonswift, fire!"

Shots rang out, and Prowl spun around the corner, nearly running into Red Alert. Red Alert looked at Prowl, as Prowl transformed. "Prowl, get out of here-"

There was a particularly loud boom, and Red Alert cursed. "Slag it, they've got bombs as well."

Prowl scanned and analyzed the scene quickly, and pointed. "Over there, in that building. If we can get a sniper, we can pick off those in the back."

Red Alert nodded, and pointed at a mech. "You, up in the building, snipe down those in the back. We don't want them in the city."

The mech looked back, fear and terror freezing him in the position he was in currently. Red Alert cursed softly, and then there was a sudden, ringing roar.

All heads turned as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker slammed into the on pouring mechs, howling. Red Alert cursed even harder as he shoved a gun into Prowls hands. "Prowl, you go pick off those in back. I've gotta help the twins-"

Red Alert stood up, and ran towards the twins, punching and shoving everyone out of the way. "Sides, Sunny, you morons! Why did you rush right in?"

"Why did you follow?" Sunstreaker demanded, almost lazily.

Red Alert shook his head. "Because if you two die, so do I. Might as well go out together."

The three stood back to back, glaring around them. "I'm getting really sick of fighting." Red Alert whimpered, wishing with his entire spark that this wasn't happening. "I knew that something bad was going to happen today. I just knew it."

"Red, now isn't the time for this!"

"Shut up, it's all a conspiracy by the government to get me to reveal-"

A loud boom as another piece of wall around the city collapsed, drowning out Red Alerts words that he was spewing out. "Red Alert, when I give the signal, attack."

Red Alert nodded, and all three tensed. The Decepticons surrounding them brought up guns, and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker activated their jet packs, blasting into the air as Red Alert dropped down into the ground.

The Decepticons fired, hitting each other. Red Alert surged forward, slamming into the foremost mechs, as Sideswipe dropped from the air right on top of them. Sunstreaker swooped down low, scattering the mechs, and Red Alert roared, "Don't scatter them too badly! We want to get all of them-"

A large group of police appeared, open firing. Red Alert yelled out in pain as a bullet slammed into his leg, and Sunstreaker caught him, rolling both behind a building as Sideswipe took cover behind a pile of dead 'Cons.

Red Alert groaned softly, holding his leg as he leaned against Sunstreaker. "Watch the paintjob." Sunstreaker snapped, glaring.

Red Alert snapped back, "Sunstreaker, you dragged me into this situation, you're going to have to ignore your paintjob-"

The Decepticon staggering towards them dropped as a shot rang out from the top of a building. "Good, Prowl got into position."

Red Alert reached up, activating his comm. link. "Prowl?"

"I am in position. Move towards your right three piles. You have a ten percent chance of getting less hit there."

"Sideswipe is pinned down by the police, and Red's hit." Sunstreaker snapped, jumping into the conversation.

Sideswipe said cheerfully, "Don't mind me. I'm doing just fine. I am going to paint Randwin bright blue when this is over. The little slagger is aiming for me, I swear."

"Not surprised." Red Alert grumbled, one hand on his wound. "You always did manage to tick him off."

"Red Alert! I only dumped three buckets of paint on him, not twelve like I originally planned." Sideswipe whined, optics looking up to Red Alert as he grinned.

Red Alert snarled something softly, and then searched his subspace for something that could help. "Slag it all, I gave my gun to Prowl, and I don't have an extra."

"You, Mr. Paranoid, don't have an extra gun?"

"I had five, but no one else brought a gun." Red Alert snapped. "Sideswipe, could you grab one off the dead mechs beside you?"

Sideswipe turned, ripping off two guns, which he tossed to Red Alert and Sunstreaker. "What about you Sides?" Sunstreaker demanded.

"Why Sunny, I didn't know you cared." Sideswipe joked, grinning. "Give me a few moments. I think any moment now-"

A dead Decepticon slammed down next to him, pumped full of holes. "Aha! A third gun for me!"

The three Lamborghinis nodded as they prepped the guns. "This brings back some memories, doesn't this?"

Red Alert nodded. "For our creators."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Prowl shot coolly, aiming for whatever mechs were shielded from the regular police fire. He could see his adoptive creators moving around, Red Alert leaning against a wall, Sideswipe tensing to roll out of his position, and Sunstreaker getting ready to catch him.

Prowls optics narrowed, CPU analyzing the situation once again. He needed someone to take over so that way he could get down there- "Prowl, get out of the building now!" Red Alert suddenly shrieked. "Warn everyone that jets and jammers are coming!"

"What?"

Prowl could see no jets, and he heard nothing. He hesitated, calculating the possibilities of Red Alert simply glitching. At last he moved out of the building, dodging the odd, intermediate blasts from the Decepticons that somehow managed to find cover. He strode up to the head of police, motioning to the mech. "Red Alert claims that jets are headed out way."

The mech cursed, then nodded. "You, Randwin, go to the communications tower and tell them to watch for jets. Windwater, go and get the anti-seeker guns."

Prowl said softly, "Red Alert, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker are still trapped out side of the safe area."

"We know, but until we drop most of these mechs, we can't let up or they'll be able to pull together a counter-attack. Slag it all, we need help! It's like an entire army is out there!"

Prowl nodded, optics turning back to the fight as he got his own gun ready. "Hey, if it isn't Prowl!" Came the lazy, happy voice.

"Jazz." It was cold and brusque, but Jazz was already developing an immunity to it. Of sorts.

"Good to see you as well."

Prowls optics narrowed, his computer instantly putting together several ideas. "Help is on the way, isn't it? that's why you're so happy."

Jazzs grin grew even wider as he bowed.

The firing from the police stopped suddenly, and the three Lamborghinis hurtled back towards the safety of the city. Jazz lifted a hand, listening to some sort of comm. link. "Yeah?... Ok…. Sure… Wait, I found someone…. No, they haven't… Can I at least ask them again?... No… Wait!"

Jazz scowled as them comm. link shut off. Sideswipe was shouting for a medic, as Red Alert lifted his leg, attempting to calm himself down. Jazz turned to Prowl, only to watch him walk over to Red Alert, squatting down next to him. "Are you alright?"

"Fine. Prowl, go ahead and go before too many connect you with us." Red Alert gasped. "If they've just seen Sideswipe and Sunstreaker fighting, and with their type of fighting, it's going to connect in their CPUs."

Prowl was silent for a moment, and at last said, "I've decided to join the Autobots. If Decepticons would make an unprovoked attack on a city that is neutral, then they are not worth serving."

Red Alert nodded, and Sideswipe ginned. "We'll be right behind you, you go ahead and work your way up, and we'll work our way up as well."

Prowl asked softly, "Why won't you allow anyone to find out that I was raised by you."

All three traded looks, and then looked back up at Prowl, unreadable. "We'll tell you when the time is right Prowl. But, for now… It's safer that you don't know."

Prowl wanted to scream in frustration, but he didn't dare do it here. With an angry, short nod, he walked o towards Jazz. Red Alert groaned in pain, and Sideswipe pressed a hand against the wound. "Calm down Red. A medic should be coming sometime soon."

Red Alert struggled to his feet. "The same goes with us three twins. I anyone knows we're still alive, other then the company…"

The twins exchanged significant glances, and then nodded at Red Alert. "Go it."

The three separated, Red Alert spear-heading efforts near the breech as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker poured out to hit the Deceptions from behind. Distantly they could hear Red Alert roaring, "Moonswit! Keep firing! Ratter, go and see if you can't find any more weapons! You over, there! Don't let those mechs into the city!"

Mechs hurried to obey, too stunned to do anything else. Prowl stepped up, his hand on the gun tightening. Jazz starred at him or a moment, before snapping, "You can't plan on going into battle!"

Prowls optic ridge rose, and Prowl grinned ferally. "Yes, I do."

Before Jazz could say anything, Prowl was gone, out fighting. Jazz cursed softly, and leaped after him, not caring for his own safety. _Slag it. I find someone I'm willing to die or, and they insist on being first to fight._

Jazz found himself back-to-back with Optimus Prime. "Prime!"

"Jazz. I've been watching the battlefield as well as fighting, and I see some potential recruits."

A voice somewhere in the city roared, "CHARGE!"

Then, a red and white Lamborghini went streaking out into the enemy, fighting. A group of mechs from the city joined in, many of them gladiators. Prime looked across the battlefield, and sighed in sorrow as mechs began to drop, dead. "I prayed that it might not come to this."

Jazz shook his head. "No sense in worrying about it now sir. For now, we gotta fight."

"So, I heard something about a new recruit."

"Yeah, Prowl. That police cruiser over there beating the slag out outta that 'Con."

Prime watched as Prowl offlined the Decepticon, and then began working on the next, and nodded. "Good. He'll make a good second-in-command."

"Sir? You don't even know him yet-" Jazz said, but his spark beat a little faster at the idea.

"If he impressed you Jazz, something that even I didn't do very well when we first met, then he's got to be good Jazz. Ater this is over, take him to Ironhide."

Jazz saluted before tearing into the next mech. "Sir, yes Sir!"

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert sighed as he looked out across the battlefield. He could see Prowl being led off, one of his doorwings ripped off, but other then that he seemed fine. He rubbed his forehead tiredly, and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker both reached across the bond, all three strengthening each other. Then, silently they began to gather the bodies.

Red Alert saw a silvery mech wandering among the bodies, looking for someone or something, but he mindlessly applied himself to his own task. He had no time to think, and didn't want to think. War was at last upon them, and Red Alert quaked inwardly at the idea of such a thing. _How could you let this happen Primus? _Red Alert mentally railed, but nothing answered, just like nothing answered whenever he wondered about why he had his glitch.

Red Alert took a deep breath, and then looked up at the sky. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker said nothing, but Red Alert cried for them, tears pouring freely down his face. He shoved off a body, and stopped dead. Moonswift lay beneath the body, and Red Alert knelt, tears comming down even harder. "Red Alert?"

"Moonswift."

"Did we get them? Is the city safe?"

"It's safe Moonswift. Rest in peace."

Moonswifts optics dimmed, and Red Alert stood up, clearing the bodies of the dead Decepticons away from Moonswift. "I got them, right? I'll go to heaven, right?"

Red Alert nodded, and he reached out, offering what comfort he could. "Yes, you die a hero. Nothing can change that."

Moonswift nodded, and his spark flared once brilliantly before vanishing. Red Alert stood, picking up Moonswifts body, and dragging it back to the city, where he dumped it among the other mechs who had fallen in defense to the city. .:_Red Alert?_:.

.:_Autobots it is. I'll meet you two at the top. Go and sign up. I'll be a little later. I have to fortify the city first._:. Red Alert replied.

The war had begun, first blood had been shed, and the first tears spilt. But they would not be the last.

SsSsSsSsSsSsS

M'kay, just as a warning now, the next chapter is going to have a big time jump. And I can't believe I killed off Moonswift. DX


	9. Chapter 9

Prowl stared at the cube of energon in font of him, tapping it in a way most would consider nervously. Jazz, leaning back on his chair, knew Prowl was not nervous, but merely waiting slightly impatiently for information to arrive. Three vorns had done little to change either of them, except to harden them to the horrors of war.

"If you continue leaning back another two degrees you'll fall." Prowl said softly, cool optics looking up at Jazz, who simply ginned.

Prowl looked down at the cube, and sighed so softly one could almost miss it. "Incompetent-"

"Wow Prowler, don't you think that's a little harsh?" Jazz asked, his wide, lazier grin growing even wider. "I haven't yet met a security director who can keep up with your standards."

Prowl said nothing, merely wishing that either the twins or Red Alert was here. It had been a huge adjustment, becoming the second in command. And he was barely out of school as well. _I could really use someone who I knew before. Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, even Red Alert glitching would do right now._

"Prowler, something bothering you?"

"Merely thinking Jazz."

"What about?" Jazz asked eagerly. Prowl merely made a slight noise, reaching for a datapad.

Jazz instantly snatched it up, out of Prowls grasp. "Prowler, I ain't giving it back until you tell me."

Prowl leveled an irritated glance at Jazz, telling his spark to stop fluttering every time Jazz used his nickname. _It's completely illogical how I'm feeling._

Prowl reached for the datapad when there was a shriek, and twin laughter floated through the door. Prowl stiffened in surprise, doorwings coming up in a straight V shape. Then, before Jazzs optics could shutter, he was up and out the door.

"Wait, Prowler?"

Prowl moved through the hallways grimly, and Jazz had to trot fast to reach him before settling down into a more easy pace. "Prowler?"

Prowl said nothing as the door slid open to reveal the current security director suspended from the ceiling. "Sideswipe! Sunstreaker!"

The two giant warriors paused mid-laughter, turning. "Well, he's five clicks slow." Sideswipe said lazily. "Should we still give it to him?"

Prowls optics narrowed as he took a step forward. "Let the security director down now Twins."

"Why does he only refer to us as the twins when he knows better?" Sideswipe asked of Sunstreaker, who simply shook his head.

Jazz looked at the two, tensing slightly. They were legendary among the ranks for offlining officers who they didn't like. "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, unless you want me to throw you in the big for the next vorn, bring him down. I'm supposed to be having a meeting with him, and I don't need you two to mess it up."

Sideswipe looked up at the mech considering what Prowl had just told him. "Only for you Prowl."

Jazz looked at Prowl as the two giant warriors cut the mech free, hissing, "You three know each other?"

"We've known each other for a long time. Twins, what about _him_?"

Jazz was getting more and more confused, but the twins instantly knew who Prowl was talking about. "Still alive. In some other base however. We lost tack of each other after they moved us for beating up our commander."

"Hey, I heard Ratchets on board! Let's go greet him!"

The twins eagerly rushed off, humming happily, as Prowl knelt down next to the security director. "Are you still online?"

There was a slight nod, and then the mech looked up. "I quit."

Prowl stiffened as Jazz sighed. "I refuse to work here if the fist thing they do is try to tie me up!"

"Very well." Prowl reluctantly acknowledged. "The twins are just going to get worse from here-"

A wrench went sailing down the hallway, and Sideswipe dove behind Prowl, saying, "Save me!"

Prowl turned to glare at Sideswipe, but he looked back up as Ratchet came storming down the hallway, an old-fashioned energon ax in each hand. "Ha-Ratchet." Prowl caught himself on saying the twins nickname for Ratchet. "Put the axes down. I will take them to the brig-"

"Not good enough. We need someone to catch them in the act!" Ratchet snarled.

Prowl stood up. After carefully analyzing the situation, he had decided to take matters of a security director into his own hands. "I was thinking the exact same thing, and I think I know just the mech-"

"WAIT! NOT _HIM_!" Sunstreaker suddenly roared.

Prowl smirked slightly. "Yes, him. Jazz, I'm going to be gone for the next few cycles, so I expect you to take over-"

"Wait! I thought I'd go with you."

"No Jazz, you are to come up with a battle plan if Prime needs it. I do not think Decepticons will attack in the amount of time I'll be away, but there is still a seventy percent chance that they might."

In another world, Jazz might have been flattered. Right now, he was still puzzling over Prowls unexpected reaction to the twins. "You two, are coming with me." Prowl said, glaring at the twins, who immediately put up loud protests.

Prowl watched the two, a small, hidden smirk twitching the corners of his mouth. Finally he walked out the door. "We leave in half a cycle."

"Slag it!" Sunstreaker cursed, mirroring Jazzs feelings exactly.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert sipped at the cube thoughtfully, staring at the screens. He was in a bit of a quandary of what to do next. He had strengthened the security system, but now… _Slag it, this is boring! For once I actually hope that a fire might spring up-_

As if in answer to his mental thoughts, a roaring, crackling fire began in one of the older, abandoned warehouses on the edge of base. Red Alert hit the comm. link, snapping, "Inferno, we got a fire starting in building 13-A. please report."

"I'll need back up." Inferno said, the fire truck standing up in the middle of the cafeteria. Red Alert hesitated, before saying.

"I'll be back up. I'll meet you there."

Red Alert switched his comm. link over to another mech. "Windsae, take over guarding duties. I'm going to be back up for Inferno-"

The mech burbled happily, "Ok!"

Red Alert hastily shut off the comm. link before the mech could say anything more. Windsae could talk a turbo fox into giving up its claws sometimes. Other times he would just annoy the heck out of everyone else.

Red Alert moved outside to the area of the rapidly growing bonfire, wondering for an idle moment if Inferno had set it in order to relive the boredom of living in this base. A slight smile tugged the corners of his mouth as he considered the first time he had met Inferno.

_Red Alert sighed as he strolled along the side of the base. His spark was thundering painfully, an ever constant reminder that being separated from the triplets even for a short amount of time was a bad idea. He leaned against the wall, when a fire sprang up down the road. With a sot curse, he stood up, setting aside the pain of being separated._

_A distress call reached his comm link, and Red Alert paused listening to it. It was from the current fire fighter, and he was trapped in the building-_

_Red Alert ran down the street, narrowly turning the corner to the building. Its flames gushed up, roaring. S__**lag. This is bad. How isn't he melted?**__ A weak voice on the comm link asked, "Hello? Anyone hear me? I need help!"_

_Red Alert looked at the burning building, then lept inside, silently cursing himself. **Yo**__**u fool Red Alert. They'll thank you or rescuing them, and then ignore you once they learn about your glitch.**__ But something kept him from abandoning the voice. Plus, he'd make one bad Autobot if he didn't do it._

_Red Alerts optics scanned the area, and paused as he noticed a dark shape. "There we go." Red Alert muttered, darting for the figure._

Red Alert turned as Inferno approached, and said dryly, "Will you need a lot or a little help Inferno?"

"Well, I'd have to say from the looks of the fire that I'll need a lot."

"Inferno, did you set this?"

"No, of course not!" Infernos voice was falsely cheerful, but Red Alert let it slip. He didn't want to throw Inferno in the brig unless he could help it.

0o0o0o0o0

Sideswipe looked around the base, already bored. Prowl kept a close optic on him as he surveyed the base. A large plum of smoke appeared from a building, and both the twins heads turned, and as one they breathed, "Slag."

Before Prowl could say a word, both Twins hurtled towards the building, a roar coming from both their vocalizers. "Red Alert!"

0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert froze in the middle of what he was doing, feeling the twins concern, and their reaching out through the bond. Their voices rose clear up into the sky, and they both skidded around the corner.

Inferno paused, his fire-dousing foam beginning to slow down a little as he looked at them. "Huh?"

Red Alert looked at Inferno, and then his optics widened, and he screamed, "Inferno!"

Inferno looked up in time to see a wall falling on top of him. Hurriedly he backed up, cursing. Smoke billowed out, clouding his optics. Cursing fluently, he rubbed his optics at a futile effort to clear them, when he finally cleared them, his spark nearly dropped out of its casing.

Red Alert had a stunned look of surprise, even as Sideswipe held him easily. Sunstreaker was glaring at the fire, and Red Alert managed to get his vocalizer working. "Sideswipe, put me down!"

Sideswipe glanced down, and warily set Red Alert down, still staring at the building as if it would somehow manage to collapse on them again. Red Alert turned, and sighed in relief as he spotted Inferno. "Inferno! Come on! We have to stop this fire before it gets worse!"

Inferno shook himself out of his daze, and nodded. "Right, Red !"

0o0o0o0o0o0

Sideswipe stared down at Red Alert, who unsuccessfully tried to hide the rising embarrassment in the bond. .:_Red?_:.

.:_He gives everyone nicknames!_:. Red Alert hissed back, and then he moved forward to help Inferno.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker grinned at each other as over the bond they began singing, .:_Inferno and Red Alert, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g-_:.

.:_WOULD YOU TWO SHUT UP ALREADY?_:.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Prowl sat down in the middle of the cafeteria, ignoring the odd looks he was getting. The cafeteria was half-full of mechs from the base, and with the three visitors- Inferno fumed inwardly as he picked up his own cube. _How could those three convince Red Alert to do something that I've been trying to get him to do for vorns now?_

Red Alert sat down, looking at the three. "Well, I doubt this is a social visit…" Red Alert left the sentence hanging, and Prowl nodded.

"I need a security director who will actually do something, with the same promptness you will. I have no doubt that there may be some better ones, but at this point, I need one to handle both the twins, and to give me reports. I also need someone to handle Wheeljacks fires."

Red Alert looked steadily back at Prowl, thinking fast. He knew Prowl wouldn't do favoritism, but… _Living with me means he has an overblown view on how security directors are supposed to act. He doesn't seem to realize that most security directors aren't like me. As is, he's offering a job for Inferno as well…_

Red Alerts optics wandered over to where Inferno sat slouched in his seat. He was a little surprised. Inferno should be jumping up and down in joy. He did that whenever he got a job before. "Can I think about it Prowl?" he asked, optics studying them seriously. "I've kinda liked all of this free time to myself."

The twins stuck out their glossas, and Red Alert sipped at his cube as he said, "One more time, and the brig-"

Sideswipe stuck his out one more time, as if testing Red Alert. Red Alert slammed the cube down, optics glaring murderously. He stood up, handcuffs appearing from nowhere. He stalked towards Sideswipe who was looking at him, stunned.

Then, to all the amazement of those watching, Sideswipe, twice Red Alerts height, and defiantly stronger, fled. He fled the furiously fuming triplet, laughing across the bond. .:_Catch me if you can!_:.

Sunstreaker snorted as he watched Sideswipe transform and take off screeching. Red Alert cursed heavily, pausing to grab a datapad off a nearby table and tossed it at Sideswipe. It bounced off, but he whined, "Hey!"

Red Alert transformed in a sparkbeat, driving after Sideswipe, roaring, "You are currently in violation of rule 1001 that you are not supposed to transform in the hallways and drive unless in an extreme emergency, or you have the proper authority to do so!"

Sideswipe honked rudely, and paused in the middle of the hallway, wiggling his aft almost suggestively at a femme who was passing nearby. Inferno choked on his energon, nearly coughing up the entire gulp that he had swallowed, but he managed to keep it down. Red Alerts engines gunned, and he sped forward, screeching in front of Sideswipe. "Stupid slagger!" Red Alert swore, before changing as Sideswipe changed as well. "Now, peacefully or do I have to drag you down by the tail-pipe like last time."

Sideswipe winced even as Sunstreakers hand went unconsciously to his aft. Prowl looked at the two, and then sighed. "Red Alert, that would be considered cruelty to animals."

"HEY!"

0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert sighed, sitting down in the security room, staring at the monitors, wondering if Inferno would stop fidgeting in the doorway. "Inferno-"

Inferno looked up as Red Alert waved him to his usual nearby seat. Inferno glided over, and sat, looking at Red Alert. "Umm, Red?"

"I do want to go. I won't lie Inferno, I would like to go. I want to see what challenges I can get."

Red Alerts optics shone a little as he looked at Inferno. "I always loved a challenge."

"Well, I want to go as well," Inferno admitted, "But, well, what about those two giant mechs?"

"Oh, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker? I've been to a lot of bases with them."

Red Alert smirked suddenly. "Would you like to see some of their blackmail? I swear you'll never be able to look them in the optics without laughing again."

Inferno sighed, and Red Alert didn't notice as he turned, scrambling for the blackmail he had on the twins. "Nah Red, I'm fine."

Red Alert paused, and turned, a slight frown marring his face. "Inferno, are you ok? It's not like you to pass up chance to see blackmail-"

"I'm FINE!" Inferno snarled, standing up. "I'll see you in the morning Red."

Inferno nearly stormed out, missing Red Alerts hurt optics. The twins, only a few doorways away noticed, and silently as ghosts they stood up. Prowl, sharing the same room due to limited space, woke up, half-rising. "Go back into recharge Prowl." Sideswipe soothed softly. "We're just going to check on Red Alert."

Prowl stared at them, and nodded, settling back down. Prowl knew that no matter how close he'd be to their sparks, he wouldn't have the same, binding bond that the triplets had. Sunstreaker was the first out the door, Sideswipe soon following.

0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert stared at the empty space made by Inferno, and at last tore his optics away to look back up at the screens. _Why? Why? What did I do wrong? Argh, slag it all! I thought I was getting better at communicating my thoughts!_

Sideswipe appeared, sitting down next to Red Alert. "Red?"

Red Alert twitched, just barely, and Sunstreaker sat down on the other side. For a few breems they simply sat and basked in each others presence. The long distance and time had taken a strain on all three sparks. If they had been apart for too much longer, none of them doubted that they'd of collapsed. They needed to stick together for a long time after this.

It was Sunstreaker who spoke first. "So, you like him? Inferno?"

"Yes." It was barely acknowledged, and Sideswipes optics narrowed as he and Sunstreaker traded the exact same thoughts. .:_We gotta make sure he's good for Red first. We might of teased him before, but I didn't think he was that serious._:.

Red Alert had the feeling that he had just missed something, but he let it go, instead resting his head on the table. "Slag it. Just as I was about to ask him out for a dinner in my room-"

"Whoa, wait!" Sideswipe suddenly said, "You'd let him into your room?!"

Red Alert nodded, and the two traded looks. Red Alert not being paranoid about someone was tantamount of Prime announcing he was actually a deception. It didn't happen. Ever. Well, unless you counted brain control, but that wasn't the point.

Sideswipe left silently as Sunstreaker comforted Red Alert about the lost opportunity.

0o0o0o0o0o

Inferno scowled heavily at the table, his black mood darkening even further as Sideswipe came casually strolling in, as if he owned the cafeteria. "Hey, you're Inferno, right?"

"Yes."

Sideswipe sat down, grinning. "So, you're the one whose Red Alert talked so much about!" It was a compliment, or meant to be a compliment.

Inferno took it the entirely wrong way. "He'd talk with you when you weren't on the same base?"

"Yeah? So?"

Inferno wished he had something to pound his head against.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSs

Awww, poor, poor Inferno and Jazz. Dey be so confused.


	10. Chapter 10

Morning dawned bright and early. Too bright for Inferno who had spent the entire night worrying over what Sideswipe had said. _Red would actually contact and talk to other mechs from bases he'd done in the past. Those two must be extra special to him-_

Red Alert snickered softly at something that Prowl said, and Inferno could've stopped and screamed his frustrations to the world. _What the slag is going on? Was he asked because all four of them are bonded…_

A deep, chilling feeling struck Inferno down to the spark as he contemplated what he had just thought. _No. There is no slagging way that Red Alert is-_

Inferno hurried to catch up to Red Alert, and as they sat down near the rear of the shuttle, Inferno asked lazily, "Red, are ya bonded?"

Red Alert dropped the datapad he had been reading over, given to him by Prowl, staring at Inferno. "No!" He squeaked. Sideswipe and Sunstreakers heads turned, even thought Inferno knew they couldn't hear over the roar of the engine.

"M'kay, just wondering." Inferno drawled in his thick accent. _Good. This way I still have a chance of breaking them up before they become bonded._ It was a rather cruel thought, but Inferno was determined not to loose. _Red's mine_.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Jazz looked up as the shuttle landed, nearly toppling out of his seat in relief. Finally, Prowl was coming back, and he could be around the datsun once more. "Hello Jazz." Came the soft, calm reply of Ratchet.

'Ratchet? What are you doing here?'

"Well, if I'm guessing right, theirs only been one security director able to handle the twins. And he's got a paranoia glitch. So that means somewhere on the ride he's probably going to glitch, the twins will come off screeching for me, and I will be forced to fix him in order to keep the twins quiet."

"Who ya talking about Ratch?" Jazz asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing about the glitch?" Ratchet deadpanned, but then suddenly smirked. "Aha! There we go."

Five figures disembarked the shuttle, one clearly a fire truck. Prime, appearing right behind Jazz, remarked dryly, "It looks like Prowl decided to take care of two problems in one go. He got us both a security director and someone to put out Wheeljacks fires."

"As well as Perceptors."

"Of course, how could I forget Perceptor? Ratchet, please tell Wheeljack after he onlines that he is not allowed to be fooling around with nitroglycerin again unless watched."

"I told him that before I put a wrench in his CPU." Ratchet snarled. "It all depends on how well Red Alert can keep Wheeljack from getting it."

The door slid open as the elevator dinged. Prowl stepped out, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker flanking him. Sideswipe jumped, yelping as something rammed into his back, and a smaller Lamborghini stepped around Sideswipe, scowling. "Sideswipe-" It was a warning hiss.

A fire truck followed the Lamborghini, and the Lamborghini saluted Prime, saying, "Red Alert, security director."

The fire truck hastily pulled himself into the same position. "Inferno, fire chief!"

Infernos thick southern accent fell upon Jazzs auditory receptors, and Jazz grinned. "Inferno and Red Alert, huh?"

"Red Alert, the security room is just up the corridor. Go ahead and walk around base to see the security system, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, you two are dismissed. Jazz, please take Inferno give him a tour, and introduce him to our fire expert that we currently have."

Red Alert stalked off, Sideswipe following, and as Prowl moved off, Sunstreaker followed the battle tactician. Jazz and Inferno watched their separate crushes go, envy and jealousy burning in their optics. Ratchet and Prime left, not noticing, and at last Jazz got ahold of his feelings to look at Inferno. To see the feelings seething inside of him burning on Infenros face. "So… who do ya like?"

"Red Alert." Came back the soft grumble. "Stupid twins."

Jazzs smile suddenly grew sharp. "I like Prowler myself."

"You're welcome to him. Now, if only we could get the twins off of Red Alert, I'd be much happier." Inferno grumbled softly. Jazzs optics narrowed behind the visor. "You know, maybe if we worked together to break them up?"

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert flopped down onto his berth, listening to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker settle down for the night nearby. Prowl had arranged the rooms to be close by already, and Red Alert turned over the reason why he didn't want anyone to know in his CPU.

_It's kind of odd, We get split up at the beginning of the war, me and the twins meeting each other a lot, but suddenly, once again Prowl is thrown into the mixture._ Red Alert smiled slightly as he remembered raising Prowl, often taking him to his job to avoid bay-sitters and to cut back on costs. Red Alert smile faded as he remembered the large amount of debt his creators had been in before they had died. _I can't believe that my hospital bills were so much._ Red Alert mourned internally. _They never did give up on finding a cure for me, did they?_

Red Alert sighed, sitting up. He wasn't going to get any recharge tonight. He too clearly recognized the feeling of twitchy nervousness.

With a sigh he slipped off the berth, figuring on wandering around base until he felt even remotely like recharging.

As he wandered, his thoughts turned to Inferno, and the friendship they shared. Or at least Red Alert hoped it was friendship, because if it was just pity, when he told Inferno how he felt, there was going to be some problems-

Red Alert paused as he spotted Prowl standing next to a barely open doorway. "Pr-"

Prowl quickly made a silencing gesture, pointing inside the room. Red Alert, puzzled, stepped up and peered inside.

Jazz and Inferno were talking and laughing, grinning like little sparklings. Red Alert winced, pulling back from the happy scene. Prowl also looked devastated, and Red Alert could put two and two together to make four.

Silently he tugged Prowl away from the scene, not bothering to listen in. Inferno had steadily been trying to break him of the habit, claiming privacy. Red Alert had grumbled at that, but he was slowly beginning to be able to shift through several conversations at once without listening in on other, non-important information.

0o0o0o0o0o

Red Alert and Prowl sat together quietly, and at last Red Alert said, "This is why I wanted you to learn social skills."

"Why? So I could watch my crush fall in love with another?"

"It's a little early for that-" Red Alert said softly, when the twins came in, Sideswipe still rubbing recharge from his optics.

"Red Alert? We felt you across the bond. Hey Prowl, what's up?"

Prowl muttered something, and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker shook their heads, "Jazz? Something about Jazz?"

Prowl simply glared, door wings drooping dismally. Red Alert explained it through their bond, unable to articulate the words. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker 'listened' intently, "So, you two are afraid you're crushes are falling for each other?"

Red Alert nodded, as Prowl glanced away. Sideswipe said awkwardly, "It happens to a lot of people. Very rarely do first crushes work out. In fact, they've never worked out before-"

Sunstreaker hit Sideswipe upside the head, snarling, "Moron! That isn't what they want to hear!"

"Well at least I'm trying!"

The twins argument quickly escalated to fighting. Red Alert winced each time a blow was landed, and Prowl quickly stood up. "Sideswipe! Sunstreaker!" His voice rang through the hallways impressively, "Enough! Before the brig becomes your second home!"

Neither stopped. Prowl growled, subspacing two handcuffs, handing one to Red Alert. "You get Sideswipe."

Both leaped into the fray, rapidly pulling apart and cuffing the two. Inferno and Jazz burst in just as Red Alert finished snapping on the cuffs, so Red Alert was bent over in the awkward position of half standing, half crouching.

"Red Alert?"

Red Alert twitched, lost his footing, and yelped as he fell forward onto Sideswipes back. For a moment he lay there, stunned, before scrambling off. "Inferno? When did you-"

"We heard Prowl shouting something through the walls, so we came to see what was the matter." Jazz replied, first to recover. Inferno was still inwardly fuming at Sideswipe.

"Sunstreaker, Sideswipe," Red Alert said, catching his vocalizer into working, "You're both to be held under arrest for brawling-"

As Red Alert talked on, Prowl walked over to the two. "What are you doing together?" Prowl voice held nothing of the emotions boiling inside of him.

"Oh, we were just talking and trading tips." Jazz said, grinning. Inferno looked at Jazz, and then grinned as well.

"Trading tips is a little of an understatement Jazz."

Prowl looked at the two, and then nodded. "Very well. Sorry for disturbing you." Prowl glided away, his door wings twitching in the air slightly. Inferno hauled Jazz away before the internal fans could start kicking in, because he knew Red Alert would be able to hear them.

"Jazz, just a warning, Red's auditory receptors can hear your internal fans kicking in."

Jazz looked at Inferno, and swore softly.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert watched out of the corner of his optics as Jazz was literally dragged away by Inferno, and he paused mid-talk, sighing. "Slag it."

Sideswipe perked up. "Does interrupting your own speech mean we get free time?"

Red Alerts optics narrowed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Inferno had just been about to settle in his room when Red Alert came storming by, holding Sideswipes foot and dragging the rest of the unfortunate mech behind him. Sunstreaker, following quietly, was laughing at his twins misfortune. "Out of all the stupid things to say to him Sides, you had to say that. You're lucky he hasn't grabbed you by the tail-pipe like he did that one time and drag you down to the brig."

Sideswipe hissed, "Don't give him any ideas! I couldn't sit properly for weeks! The doctors suddenly didn't have time, there was always a meeting or something!"

Red Alert said without looking over his shoulder, "I would, but Ratchet would kill me when you came in with a damaged tail-pipe. Now both of you, shut up."

Inferno watched them pass, arguing, as he silently ran over what he just learned. Red Alert was not a person who liked to be touched for numberless reasons. Primary one was that his paranoia shrieked that if someone touched him, they would leave something behind, thus making him the target of some insane thing that only his glitch could think of.

Inferno stepped back into his room, waited until the door was closed, and then kicked it, venting his frustrations.


	11. Chapter 11

Jazz leaned against Prowls desk, lazily waiting for the second-in-command to come in. _He's a nanoclick late. That's odd-_

The door slid open, revealing Prowl and Red Alert sharing a datapad, talking quietly and pointing out different things on the datapad. Curiosity piqued, Jazz stood up and lazily strolled over to where the two commanders were speaking. "Hey, Prowler, what's up?"

"Security. Red Alert believes that the security we have is insufficient, and I agree with him."

Jazz leaned across Prowls shoulder, having to stand in a precarious position to look around Prowl, making sure not to touch any more then lightly, and only for a short time. "With the twins," Red Alert said softly, "We're going have to put up security cameras in warehouses, because those two will try to store them in there-"

"What about their own room? I believe you told me on base 2-9994 they somehow managed to take over another mechs bedroom and stored all of their pranking materials inside of there."

"Yes, but that was because they had messed up the orders which said that the mech had transferred out. So, the room was registered as occupied, even though it actually wasn't. It took me a week to catch on, but I did. Then I found out that the mech in charge of paperwork was incompetent. He regularly messed up orders, and had one of the worst personalities for the job. He was as a big of a prankster as the twins."

Prowl nodded, and Jazz wondered if he could slip, but decided Prowl would know very well that Jazz didn't slip and-

Sunstreaker stormed into the room, shouting, "Red Alert! Prowl!"

Jazz slipped, but toppled backwards instead of forwards. Prowl didn't notice as Sunstreaker launched into an angry tirade against someone, and when Sunstreaker was done, Prowl was beginning to feel a CPU ache coming on. Red Alert stood up. "Sunstreaker, Sideswipe is a moron true-"

In some part of his CPU Jazz was surprised that Red Alert had managed to tell that much, "But him trying to get you to agree to being painted red like him is not a reason to come storming in, threaten us, and complain. Got it?"

Optics met and clashed for a moment, before Sunstreaker turned and violently stalked out, and Red Alert called after, "You two just got out of the brig. Unless you want to get in there again, do all fighting on practice drones."

Sunstreaker snarled, and Red Alert looked to the sky. "Let there be an attack sometime soon."

.:_Alright, what was the real reason you came in?_:.

.:_None of your business._:. Sunstreaker replied, even as Sideswipe said softly to him,

.:_Inferno's headed your way._:.

Sunstreaker glared at Inferno, rudly brushing by, and then stopped, watching the fire truck as he nervously paused in front of the door. _Hmmm..._

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Jazz stood up, brushing himself off as his cheery voice hailed the newest member coming through the doorway. "Inferno!"

"Hi Jazz, thought you'd might like to come with me to get some cubes-" Red Alert twitched, and Inferno asked hastily, "Would ya like me to bring you one as well Red Alert?"

Red Alert nodded, and Jazz leaned across to Prowl. "Prowl?"

Prowl seemed to stiffen, but Jazz couldn't be sure. "Yes Jazz, a cube would be nice."

As the two left, grinning at each other, Red Alert and Prowl groaned. "Red Alert. He hasn't called me my full name since two cycles after we met."

"I don't think I've ever heard him call me anything but Prowler." Prowl said softly.

Depression hung heavy in the air, but neither Sideswipe and Sunstreaker showed up, both too busy trying to off-line the drones in frustration of what was happening to their triplet and child.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Jazz tapped an energon cube thoughtfully as he and Inferno moved through the hallways to deliver them. "We need to find some way of dragging the twins out into spending more time away, while we try to get closer. Otherwise we'll never be able to get them-"

The door slid open to find Prowl and Red Alert still deep in discussion about the security plans. "Here ya go." Inferno said, setting a cube next to Red Alert, and Jazz did the same with Prowl.

Both officers reached for their cubes without a second thought, and began draining them. "Thanks." Was the chimed reply, and then Jazz and Inferno had the feeling they were being utterly ignored.

Jazz motioned to Inferno, and together they walked out, feeling slightly dejected.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Inferno glared at his energon cube as if it were the reason everything was going wrong. _Three weeks since the twins entered my life, and they've already taken over Red'. I can't see Red without one of the twins, and Jazz said he's got the same problem with Prowl…_

Inferno sank lower into his seat. The two were now spending more time coming up with insane ideas, that weren't going to work, then time with their respective crushes. _At the rate we're going, we're going to be falling in love with each other as a comfort item-_ Inferno thought wryly, but both of them had a problem. There wasn't a mean streak in their personalities, so the ways they could catch attention was mostly low-key, and not very useful.

Jazz collapsed next to Inferno, muttering, "Where are Decepticons when you need them?"

Inferno snorted, "I don't think their coming any time soon-"

Jazz nodded, and said softly, "Well, setting up a trick that looked like the twins did it didn't work. In fact, the twins spent a sold two orns attempting to convince the two officers that they weren't the ones who did it, so that plan backfired."

Jazz began to go through the plans that had backfired, Inferno sipping at his cube and not really listening. He had nearly given up on breaking the four of them apart. The more time he and Jazz spent together, attempting to break the two apart, the more the twins appeared in Red Alert or Prowls presence.

Infernos comm. link crackled to life. "Inferno, we got a fire going in building 12-A. Do you need backup?"

Inferno thought for a moment. Building 12-A… It was a medium sized building. Something that if pressed he could handle alone, but he really wanted backup. "Backup would be nice. Ya coming?"

"Of course." Red Alert said, and Inferno grinned, victory doing a little dance inside of his CPU.

"See ya there!"

Inferno shut off the comm. link, and stood up, nearly transforming in his haste to get to the fire. Jazz watched him go, and then turned back to his cube. Only to choke as Prowl uncertainly entered, optics sweeping around the nearly deserted room. "Prowle-" Jazz paused, wondering if the nick-name would still be suitable. _As, slag it all, if it makes the twins mad, then it's good._ "Prowler!" Jazz called loudly, waving a hand, "Over here!"

Prowl walked over to Jazz, before sitting down in the chair. "So, Prowler, what brings you here?"

"Jazz, you haven't appeared in my office for weeks now." Prowl said softly, staring at Infernos abandoned cube. "I was just wondering why."

"Well, I've been a little busy-" Jazz said, suddenly skirting around the fact that he'd been trying to get some alone time with Prowl, but it had been failing miserably. "After all, you were the one who assigned me to make sure Inferno was properly settled in-"

Was it just his imagination or did Prowls doorwings twitch violently?

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Red Alert paced silently, his optics scanning the area as he waited for Inferno to appear. Inferno appeared around the corner, just as something inside the building collapsed. "Sorry Red." Inferno gasped, "I was talking to Jazz, when you called."

_I know._ Red Alert thought, a little smugly. _However, a really good way to get you alone is to set a fire._

Inferno and Red Alert worked silently together, both more then a little awkward over what to say. At last Red Alert said softly, "In three cycles from now, I'm to be going into a neutral city along with Prowl to outline some security defenses they can take against the Decepticons, and that sort of thing. Would you like to come along? You can go ahead and look around town and everything."

Inferno paused in his spraying for a moment, thinking it over. "Sure Red, I'd love to."

Red Alert nodded, and the fire at last spluttered out.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

Alright, time for the reason why Red Alert and the twins have been hiding their relationship for so long. And, we might just be shocked at what we find out, won't we? 


	12. Chapter 12

Jazz and Inferno traded odd looks as they followed Prowl and Red Alert through the city. It turned out that Prowl had also invited Jazz, but for a different reason. The two officers agreed that Jazz was much more likely to set the city council at ease, so Jazz would be needed in the city. Inferno, not so much, but Red Alert had reassured Inferno that they'd be able to wander around town a lot.

Apparently, Red Alert would be unneeded for much of the conference, only the beginning orn, after which he could disappear without anyone giving a second thought.

Red Alerts head turn to say something to Inferno, when he froze, optics growing huge. Inferno, puzzled, looked around. There was nobody nearby, unless you counted a mech the same size as Inferno, who had a rather odd looking symbol on his arm. It reminded Inferno a lot of Primus's mark, just warped- Red Alert grabbed Inferno by the arm, yanking him into a physical shield. "Please don't look over here, please don't look over here, please don't look over here." Red Alert muttered over and over again, trembling.

Inferno looked down, concern and surprise rising in his optics, but Prowl beat him to the question. "What is the matter Red Alert?"

"We need to get out of here fast." Red Alert said flatly. "Before he notices-"

"Hey! I recognize you!"

Red Alerts optics went impossibly wide, and he whipped around, hands coming up to ward the punch already flying at him. Inferno watched, stunned as the mech with the odd symbol scowled, and Red Alert took a step back. "I thought you were dead-"

Bam! Red Alerts leg flew up, slamming into the mech. Shouts of surprise and a scream of pain rose, and Red Alert snarled, "Run!"

Instantly all four mechs pelted off into the crowd, as they heard the mech say, "We found him! No, I didn't see the other two- Yessir!"

Red Alert cursed as they spun around a corner, and he pointed at Prowl. "Prowl, you need to stay out of this. Stay here."

"Wait, why are they after you?" Prowl snapped, glaring at Red Alert. "I knew that when you were raising me you three were on the run from something, but what the slag is-"

"Now's not the time, be a good kid like usual and hide, will you?" Red Alert snapped back, optics darting around the crowd. "There isn't much time left, and he's probably calling down the entire group-"

Red Alert stiffened as he heard footsteps running down the street, and he snarled, "Prowl, go talk to the city council. I'll be late."

Before Prowl or Jazz could move, Red Alert was off. Inferno cursed as he charged after Red Alert.

"Inferno, wait-" Prowl called, but gave up as they vanished.

Jazz grabbed Prowl by the shoulders. "Prowler, what was that? You, being raised by him? Two others?"

Prowl eyed Jazz for a moment, before grabbing Jazz by the wrist and briskly tugging him towards the City Hall. "Sideswipe found me abandoned as an sparkling, and brought me to his house, where he, Sunstreaker, and Red Alert all raised me. The three of then are actually triplets, but due to some odd reason, they refused to tell anyone, just as they insisted that no one should know they raised me. I agreed when I was younger because I didn't know any better, but lately they've still been insisting, and even though I can think up of a dozen reasons why, theirs something their not telling me. I know they were in huge debt before I came along, but they got a contract with the company, which paid it off."

Jazzs jaw had rapidly begun dropping. "So, you're saying that you were raised by them?"

"Correct."

"And Red Alert and the twins are actually triplets?"

"Yes."

"So, where does that mech come into this?"

"I don't know!" Prowls voice was frustrated. "If I knew, I would not be here about to go to City Hall like Red Alert told me too, but out taking down those slaggers. But I don't know how big of an organization they have, how many members, what their primary goal is, if I were to make enemies of them here and now, it could end in disaster for Red Alert."

Jazzs optics beneath his visor had slowly gotten bigger. When Prowl had cursed, Jazz didn't think he could get any more surprised. He was proved wrong when Prowl lashed out at a guard, snarling, "I want to speak to the leader of the city NOW!"

The guard grew a pale white, stuttering, "He's already in a meeting-"

Prowl grabbed the guard by the neck, yanking down the guard to his optic level. "Your city is going to be destroyed by two giant twins unless I can stop this madness soon enough-"

Screams and shouts could be heard from the gates, and Prowl cursed fluently in ten different dialects of Cybertronian, some of which Jazz had never heard before. "I need to see the leader now."

Jazzs optic ridge rose, but Prowl lifted a hand to the comm. link, "Twins, calm down-"

"We are not going to calm down! Those slaggers came after him again! We're going to rip them piece by piece into tiny cubes that their going to wish that they've never been sparked-"

The guard was growing paler by the second as the twins described in colorfully violent, graphic detail what they were going to do with the mechs. Prowl snapped, "I need to know what's going on, so that way I can get the council to stop it-"

"They can't do anything." Sideswipe snarled, "What's going on is that a crazed cult believes that Red Alert is a mar upon Primus creations, and thus needs to die."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert trembled violently as he listened to feet tramp past. He had managed to loose the cultists about two alleyways back, but… Inferno, crouched next to him, whispered, "What's going on Red?"

"Their cultists, who want to kill me." Red Alert said shortly. His horns kept sparking an odd intermediate blue spark, and Red Alert thought mournfully of what Ratchet was going to say for a moment, before he realized that he was attempting to detach himself from reality. "Inferno, we need to move. If they spot us here-"

"Found you!" Red Alerts words died in his vocalizer as he took a step back. "Ha! Not so tough now that you don't have your triplet brothers nearby, do you? We'll pay you back for all of those times you've slipped by us for all of these vorns ago."

_Triplet?_ Inferno thought, stunned, and his optics darted between the two. "I don't know what's going on here." Inferno growled, stepping in front of Red Alert, "But why do ya want to kill Red?"

"Because he's a glitch! A mar upon Primus! He should've been melted down and destroyed when he was sparked." Red Alert shivered, and Inferno took a step forward.

"You're crazy! Red wouldn't hurt a turbo-flea unless provoked!"

Red Alert looked at Inferno, whispering, "Inferno, no, don't-"

Infernos hands clenched as he snarled, "I'm not letting you get a step closer."

The mech viewed him, and then sighed. "So, you're another one of those taken in by his smooth words? I suppose you have some leniency, so we will not harm you." Infernos anger was rapidly turning to confusion, and Red Alert shouted from somewhere behind him. Inferno turned to see that several mechs had crept up behind Red Alert, and were currently restraining him. Red Alert was shouting, his horns a brilliant blue, slamming a hand ineffectively against them as he attempted to get away. The armor was getting dents, but none of the mechs even so much as twitched.

_That can't be normal_ Inferno thought, before he took a step forward, about to help Red Alert. A fist slammed into his back, sending him stumbling, and he turned, snarling. The mech who had fist spotted hem stood, a long piece of pole in a hand. Inferno lifted an arm, shifting it to his nozzle to spray the mech down in the slippery material before turning to charge the group. Red Alert was screeching something, and Inferno snarled low in his throat as he stepped forward a few steps- only to have the world go black.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had been in the cafeteria, ganging up on a new mech named Bluestreak when Red Alerts first wave of panic had hit them. Both had stiffened, the grips on their cubes tightening so much that the cubes shattered into small, fragmented pieces as they stared off into space, trying to decide what was making Red Alert panicky.

Then, both stood up, looking at each other. "No way." Both had instantly breathed as Red Alert screeched something about a cult, "It couldn't be-"

Prime entered the cafeteria, just as the twins nodded.

"Sideswipe, Sunstreaker-"

"Not now!" came the two, short replies.

Optimus Prime frowned, but the disapproval changed to surprise as they nearly ran him down in an effort to get out. "Twins, you are not to leave base-"

"Slag you!" Sunstreaker shouted at Prime, anger and fear for their triplet fueling them on. "We gotta get into town!"

Ratchet noticed the two running off, and paused in his medbay window, and at last sighed, telling his assistant, "First Aid, I'm going after the twins. No doubt they're going to get into trouble and I'll have to save their afts once again."

Prime met Ratchet at the front gate. "I'm planning on contacting Prowl as soon as we get into range. What is making the twins act like this? Normally they disobey orders to a certain extent, but not like this."

"I'm not sure Prime." Ratchet said, looking at Prime. "Why aren't you at the meeting anyways?"

"I get my fill of such meetings, and I was going to be going to a different meeting, but at the last moment they canceled. So, I was left behind, and it would be rude of me to come in uninvited."

Ratchet snorted, and Prime said nothing in response to the snort. They, going as fast as they could, could only just keep the twins in sight, the twins engines designed to go much faster then what either two of the older mechs could go.

Both were in clear view of when the twins got to the city gates. They changed, picked up the mechs who were supposed to be guarding, and tossed them away after the mechs seemed to refuse entry to them. The two moved in, rapidly becoming lost in the crowd of mechs. "What the slag is going on?" Ratchet wondered aloud.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Red Alert snarled in a mixture of fear and fury as he wiggled desperately, attempting to back up from his captors. _Their going to chop me apart still alive to use for spare pieces, or something worse-_

"Very well." The tallest out of the mechs nodded as he clapped his hands together. "It's decided. We'll freeze him to death."

Red Alerts spark nearly failed right there. It may or may not be better then being melted to death, but if he was frozen- "Tie him up and lock him in the giant freezer. Post guards. It's triplets should be coming sometime soon."

Red Alert kicked and lashed out any who came near, fear and terror clawing its way up his vocalizer. .:_Twins! Hurry!_:.

Two grim replies of reassurance flew back to him, and Red Alert cried out wordlessly in pain as someone grabbed his foot, yanking him forward hard enough that the back of his head hit the ground. For a split click he saw nothing but black, and he went limp for a precious nanoclick.

It was enough for his captors to pick him up, tossing him over a shoulder. Red Alert snapped out of his daze, and turned on his vocalizer to screech in the mechs optics when someone reached up, and with a simple flick of their fingers turned off his vocalizer.

Red Alert had a sinking sensation that the twins would not be able to reach him in time. They were still distant, although homing in on the bond, it would take them several breems in which to find him.

Red Alert cried out soundlessly as he was brutally tossed into a cold, black room, and the door swung shut as Red Alert shivered in the rapidly dropping temperatures. _I'm doomed._ He thought, as the moments slowly trickled by and already he could feel his internal components shutting down one by one to preserve energon and to keep himself alive. _The twins aren't going to be able to find me in time._

SsSsSsSsSsSsSs

I blame the bunny farm for this idea. Completely and totally.


	13. Chapter 13

Inferno groaned, stirring weakly, as he slowly sat up. "Red?" He whispered, forcing his aching vocalizer to work. There was no reply. Panicked, Inferno looked around himself. _Where's Red? C'mon, Red-_

Inferno shakily staggered to his feet, and walked to the mouth of the alley way, glancing out to see the twins rush by. He was about to call to them, when his legs gave up, and he sank down in a sitting position. "Not now! I gotta find Red!" Inferno grumbled. He glared at his legs, as if they were a separate entity altogether and were refusing to work with him. He attempted to get to his feet, but gave it up. Instead he contacted Prowl. "Prowl, can you hear me?"

"I can. Red Alert?"

"Sorry, they managed to get him away. Two carried him off and then they struck me down when I wasn't looking."

Prime jumped in onto the conversation. "Prowl, Inferno, what is going on? Sideswipe and Sunstreaker suddenly came tearing out nearly running me over, have currently nearly offlined two guards when they were refused entrance- I hope they realize that this could be the cause of us loosing an ally-"

"It isn't something explained over a comm. link Prime." Prowl said formally. "And I do not have the details myself. If you'd come on up to City Hall-"

"No, we need Ratchet!" Sideswipe said suddenly, connecting as well. "Ratchet, we need you now!" Panic and desperateness were in the Sideswipes tones, and Ratchet pelted off after the twins without a second thought.

Prowl said softly, "I'll be going to where the twins are actually. I shall meet you there Prime."

Prime suddenly found himself cut off as Inferno agreed, and Inferno staggered to his feet to stumble after the twins.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert was unsure of how much time had past. His internal chronometer had shut down long ago, and Red Alert could feel the energon in his body slowing down, as his spark shut off the energon to outer parts. His feet were useless except for the occasional sparks of pain that thrust up his feet whenever he moved them, and Red Alert could hear through the walls mechs urging others to cool down the temperature even more, to freeze him faster.

_Slag it all._ Was his last few thoughts before he slowly drifted to unconsciousness. _I wanted to tell Inferno how I felt..._ His optics off lined, as his body shut down into stasis lock.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker felt the bond begin to dim towards Red Alert, and instantly they moved forward, screeching fury towards all those connected. A small group of the cultists were guarding the door, and they raised their guns as the twins stampeded towards them.

Sunstreaker snarled, tossing them out of the way, as Sideswipe crushed limbs, both working steadily towards the room where they could feel Red Alert in. Prowl, appearing just moments after the twins, also threw himself at the cultists, working for the controls. He realized what was going on, even if the twins in their blind rage didn't. They had to shut off the controls.

Prime and Ratchet pulled up to the building, slowing as they saw the carnage wrecked. Inferno staggered up behind them, weaving unsteadily on his feet. "Inferno-" Ratchet began, moving to the fire truck, but Inferno simply shook his head.

"Better find Red Alert. This lot took off with him-"

Prime looked at Inferno steadily as the twins screamed for Ratchet, and Ratchet rushed off. "What's going on here?"

"Well, from what I can tell-" Inferno said, wearily, "The twins and Red Alert are triplets, some crazy cultists hate them, and they want all three to die, or maybe just one? Anyways, they took off with them, and they were talking something about leniency and Primus, and death-"

Prime gave up on getting a clear answer out of Inferno.

0o0o0o0o0

Ratchet looked around the energon smeared room. Prowl was bent over a set of controls, cursing. They were obviously broken, and the twins were working at a door, both setting their strength at pulling it open. It slowly screeched outwards, and Ratchet shivered in surprise as a wave of cold flew past him, and the twins darted in. "Ratchet, Red Alert's in here."

Ratchets spark failed for a moment. _Red Alert?_ "How long?" Came the demand.

"How are we supposed to know?"

Ratchet moved into the room, shivering violently as his internal systems kicked in, trying to keep him warm. Red Alert lay curled up in he middle of the floor, arms tied behind him, offlined. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker weren't touching him, although both looked like they'd want to.

"Slag." Ratchet cursed with feeling. The room was so cold, if Red Alert had been in their for an extended amount of time, he'd shatter if he was touched. Ratchet subspaced a heating blanket, and set it to the next highest temperature of the room. He had to warm up Red Alert gradually, or risk CPU damage. But he still needed to get Red Alert out of here- Ratchet wrapped the blanket around Red Alert, praying that Red Alerts armor wouldn't shatter. The armor cracked, and Ratchet sighed softly, turning up the blanket a few more degrees. Then he picked Red Alert up, taking him out into the much, much warmer room.

The twins followed meekly, where Prime stood waiting. Ratchet lay Red Alert down, making sure Red Alert was in a comfortable position, before he scanned Red Alert.

"His sparks a little weak, he came mighty close to freezing his spark into stopping, but we got to him with time to spare." Ratchet announced.

The twins sagged in relief, both sitting down next to Red Alert. Prime said softly, "I request an explanation."

"Well, that's-"

"I as well would like to know what is going on." Prowl said coldly.

The twins sighed. They owed an explanation to Prowl in the very least. "Might as well sit down Prime, it's a long story."

The two fell silent, trading questions and comments across the bond, and checking the bond for Red Alert. His connection to them pulsed faintly, but it was still there, reassuring them. "It… It was a long time ago. Me, Sunny and Red Alert here were sparked as triplets, but no one was suspecting Red Alert, so he got stuck with a smaller body then us. He spent the first vorn of his life in a hospital, because no one expected him to survive, and then he came home. Mom and Dad raised us, and it slowly spread through the neighborhood that Red Alert had a glitch. Then, when we were about 80 vorns old (A/N: 14 in human equivalent of years) a cult got wind of the fact that Red Alert had a glitch."

Sideswipe fell silent, and Prime felt his spark rapidly sinking. He could well guess what was going to happen next. "The cult, it was centered around Primus and he creating us as the ultimate beings, and how all those with defects should be killed. One night they came to our neighbor hood, and killed our creators, and attempted to kill Red Alert. Red Alert went beserk, and attacked them. We came into the scene, and between the three of us…"

Silence fell, and Prime asked softly, "How many survivors?"

"One. Out of nearly thirty, forty mechs, only one survived."

Prowls breath sucked in, and Sideswipe continued, "We changed our identities to the world at large, and then moved to the other side of the city, where we found out our creators were deep in debt for trying to find a cure for Red Alerts glitch. We started working, Sunny painting, me doing some other things, and Red Alert putting his paranoia to good use. We then found Prowl, and took him in. We didn't want him to be recognized by the cult, because they would think he was tainted by Red Alert, and try to kill him as well. Which is why we never told anyone. We hid the fact that we were triplets because it's easier to track down triplets then it is twins. And we knew they were still looking for us."

The silence that fell after Sideswipe had finished speaking was deep, broken only by the soft trickle of energon from the mechs lying about. "So, you three are being chased down by cultists, and have lied to everyone about you three being triplets in order to protect yourselves?"

"Well, that's the main reason." Sideswipe said, shrugging.

"The other reasons?"

"Well, Me 'n' Sunny can go ahead and take any jibing about us, and we can fend off any attack made on us as well. And we'll start any fight when we want to, but Red Alert doesn't much like fighting, and it wouldn't be fair that he get beat up for something that the two of us did. Which happened a lot when we were in school until we stopped telling everyone."

Prime held up a hand. "So, how old were you when you found Prowl?"

The two fell silent, and refused to look at Prime or Ratchet. "You two weren't much older, were you?" Ratchet said, nearly dropping his hands to fully rest on Red Alert. At the last moment he pulled back, and the twins nodded.

Ratchet touched Red Alert, making Red Alert twitch slightly, and Ratchet sighed. "In another orn or so he should be ready to move. I suggest Prowl and Prime go to the city council to tell them what just went on, except for the three being triplets."

Prime, Jazz, and Prowl left, Prowl reluctantly lingering for a few moments until Sideswipe reassured him that they'd let him know the second Red Alert was online. Inferno leaned against the wall nearby, regarding the three. Ratchet waited for a few moments before cranking up the energy to the blanket up another notch. He then picked up a wrench. Sunstreaker instantly noticed, while Sideswipe remained blissfully unaware for all of two clicks. CLANG!

The sound of the wrench flying off something hollow echoed in the room, making Red Alert twitch in his sleep, and for Sideswipe to rub the back of his helm, grumbling. "What the slag was that for?"

"You three, no, two morons! Why didn't you tell me when you brought Red Alert in the first time! I could've found some way to stabilize his CPU using your bond-"

"Ratchet, how much do you wanna bet their the reason why he's so glitchy?" Inferno pointed out humorously.

Ratchet paused mid-tirade, realizing that Inferno had made a valid point. "Slag."

The twins were about to protest, when Red Alerts vocalizer flickered weakly. Ratchet leaned over, flicking it on. There was a moment of silence as Red Alert attempted to get it to work, before at last he whispered, "Inferno?"

"Here Red."

Red Alerts optics flickered for a brief moment as Red Alert struggled to look at him, before he gave up, and slipped back into unconsciousness. Inferno groaned from where he was leaning against the wall, and Ratchet stood up, scanning Inferno. "Your suspension gears are knocked out of whack." Ratchet said, "Hold still. I'll take care of it."

Inferno relaxed, allowing Ratchet to make a few quick repairs, before the medic moved back to Red Alert. "Alright, he's warmed up enough to be moved back to the Ark. Keep the blanket around him, and put him in my back." Ratchet said, transforming.

Carefully they stored Red Alert in Ratchet, and Ratchet drove out of the building. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker drove ahead, clearing the way, as Inferno drove behind.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Prowl relaxed in his office, glad that the day was over. It had been hectic, filled with trying to reassure the council that the Autobots did not randomly attack mechs, and the mechs who were currently in pieces in a warehouse had in fact provoked them into a fight. Prime had given his word, and all eyewitnesses were beginning to be rounded up.

The door slid open to reveal Jazz, and Prowl said softly, "Jazz. I thought you'd be with Inferno."

"Inferno? No, he's off watching Red Alert." Jazz said softly. It had done his spark good to hear the reason why Prowl had worried about the twins and Red Alert, though Jazz would've much rather to of found out some other way. Red Alert nearly freezing to death, along with the twins going berserk was not something that settled well with a CPU.

"Jazz?"

Jazz realized that he'd been staring at Prowl for nearly two minutes without doing anything. He looked at Prowl considering his options and outcomes, before leaning against the table. "Just wondering what you think now that you know the whole truth."

Prowl looked at the desk, slightly miserable. "I wish they had told me before. I could've done something about it." He stood up, pacing around the office for a moment. "Why didn't they tell me?"

And Jazz could never stand to see Prowl looking so miserable. Jazz took a step forward, and before the datsun could say anything, swept Prowl into a kiss.

It last of five clicks before Prowls computer shut down and he crashed in Jazzs arms.

Jazz grinned, and hauled the unconscious datsun to the medbay.

SsSsSsSsSsSs

Thank you to those who reviewed... for others, please tell me how you like. Pretty please? One more ch. to wrap it all up...


	14. Chapter 14

It was nearly three cycles before Red Alert was moved out of the intensive care unit. The freezing had been horrible to many of his internal systems, and Ratchet worked steadily on Red Alert, keeping a close optic on the monitors. At the slightest motion of trouble, he'd haul in First Aid to fix whoever was there, and move to Red Alerts room.

Ratchet also had the twins inside of the room whenever possible, hoping the triplets bond would stabelize Red Alert and help him to heal a little faster. The twins were rather vocal, but didn't put up any actual argument, to a bit of Ratchets surprise. He was still thinking them as loyal to none but each other and Prime, but with Red Alert and Prowl thrown into the mix…

Ratchet smirked as he remembered Prowl. Within breems of being rebooted, Prowl had literally gone after Jazz, dragging the smooth-talking mech towards an empty room, where neither of them emerged for several orns, both looking much more relaxed and satisfied.

Red Alert twitched on the berth, groaning softly as he dreamed-

0o0o0o0o0o0

_His mother smoiled as she looked at Red Alert proudly. "You did well Red Alert. I'm glad that you managed to get into the school that you wanted."_

_Red Alert smiled back, and she subspaced a package. "For you."_

_Red Alert took it, optics shining. "The twins actually chipped together to buy it for you, as an apology for missing today."_

_.:Really?:._

_.:Red Alert! Mom give you the present?:._

_.:Yeah, but she said it was from you two-:._

_.:Slag! We asked her not to say that.:. Two grumbles sounded across Red Alerts bond, making Red Alert giggle inwardly. His father appeared, standing in the doorway of the room. Energon trickled down from a cut on his forhead. "Quick, you two need too-"_

_He was cut off as the sound of a cannon filled the room, and a scream rent the air. Red Alert looked up, optics wide and terrified. His father lay on the ground, his back nothing more then a hole, the wires exposed to the air sparking. "F-father!" Red Alert screamed, just as his mother shouted "Snapwire!"_

_A cruel laugh filled the room, and a mech, painted completely white except for an odd symbol on his arm stepped into the room. His mother instinctvly moved in front of Red Alert, snapping, "What are you doing here?"_

_.:SIDESWIPE! SUNSTREAKER! COME QUICK! DAD'S-:. Red Alert couldn't bring himself to say the last word. "D-Dad..." he whimpered, backing up in horror._

_The white mech stared at his mother, and said softly, "Are you Quicklight, mother of the gltich?"_

_Red Alert flinched, as Quicklights optics narrowed. "My sons name is Red Alert. And it isn't nice to call him a gli-"_

_"That's all we needed to know." Came back the winter cold reply. "die."_

_Red Alert screamed in horror as the sound of a cannon filled the room. He dropped to his knees, and Quicklights optics attempted to focus on him. "R-Red Alert?"_

_"M-Mom, please, don't die. You can't die. No, no nonononononono-"_

_Quicklight grabbed Red Alerts hand weakly. "Run. Get away-"_

_"I can't abandon-"_

_"RED ALERT! NOW!" Quicklight said in her best mother voice._

_Red Alert flinched, and she jerked as her systems failed, one by one. Red Alert sobbed as her spark faded, her connection with her sparklings being cut off. Across the bond, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker wailed, feeling the two bonds connecting them to their creators being cut. Red Alert sobbed, and rocked back and forth over his mother, begging for it not to be true. He didn't know whom he was begging, but please-_

_There was the sound of a weapon being cocked, and Red Alert looked up, horns streaking a brilliant blue. "Red Alert, as a glitch and as a mar upon all of Cybertorn-DIE!"_

_Red Alert screamed in fury, throwing himself at the mech, just as he fired. Screaming, he clawed at the mechs face, managing to pull a major wire. The mech dropped, and Red Alert wrenched off the cannon. "Die yourself." Red Alert raged, and before he could have second thoughts, he fired. _

_The mech jerked once, and then died. Outside of the house, Red Alert could hear voices talking. "I heard four shots."_

_"Someone go in and check."_

_Red Alert no longer was thinking. All thinking had been wiped away in the terrible fury. Across his bond, his twins snarled ferally, feeling the anger, bloodlust, and sorrow. They attacked the group of cultists as one, killing all those who dared to stand up to them. Sunstreaker ripped off one head, his strength making itself known despite how young he was._

_None of them cared anymore, lost in the bloodlust and sorrow of loosing their creators. At last thirty-nine mech bodies lay in pieces around the house, and all three were breathing heavily, so covered in energon it was impossible to recognize them. .:We have to get out of here. One escaped. They'll come again.:. Sideswipe said, optics counting the heads that lay like so many leaves scattered about._

_.: Where too then?:. Sunstreaker asked softly._

_Red Alert was about to say somehting, when he wobbled, falling to his knees. Susntreaker picked Red Alert up, tossing him over one shoulder. .:Lets get cleaned up, and then to a hospital.:._

_All three vanished into the night, leaving behind thirty-nine dead mechs. _

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert woke up with a gasp trembling from the force of the images. He moved weakly on the berth he was on, looking at Ratchet as Ratchet prepared to turn off all the lights to get some recharge. "Ratchet- what does Prime have to say?" He wasn't actually curious, he just wanted to get his CPU off of the dream.

"That all three of you were justified in lying, although he'd prefer It if you didn't reveal the truth in such a dramatic way." Ratchet snorted, looking at Red Alert. Red Alert nodded, optics flickering off.

"Prowl?"

"Still sulking over the fact that you three didn't tell him, but Jazz has been snapping him out of that very nicely."

Red Alert hesitated, almost afraid to ask the next question. "Inferno?"

"About to kill the twins. He asked them for stories of you when you're a youngling, and didn't much like what he was hearing."

Red Alert groaned, his internal heating system spluttering for a moment, before smoothing back down. Ratchet frowned. _After three cycles you'd think he's properly heated back up, but he still needs a heating blanket most of the time. Maybe post-trauma? Or something more?_

Red Alert shifted, trying to get comfortable. "How much longer will I be in the medbay?"

"Until all internal systems are up and running. And then a little longer then that for observation." Ratchet said firmly.

A miserable sigh escaped Red Alert, and Ratchet smirked. "Don't worry about it. Prowl said earlier that he'd drop by tomorrow and give you some new datapads. Prime says that you've got to be good if you can keep up with the amount of paperwork."

Red Alert nodded, and Ratchet nodded. "Get some recharge Red Alert."

Red Alert slowly slipped into a recharge as Ratchet waited patiently. When Ratchet was at last satisfied, he nodded and left the room, turning the lights out after him.

Prowl had found someone whom he loved, Red Alert was on the road to healing, Ratchet finally understood most of the reason why Red Alert was paranoid, Inferno was ready to start taking a another step with Red Alert, the world was at peace.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSs

...last chapter. Yep. Last one. Now, time for school work... Thanks to all those who reviewed, I really enjoyed coming in to read it, and I hope those of you who were watching were well satisfied. As for a sequel... I have no idea. XP I usually suck at sequels


End file.
